Saving old bonds
by UFDF Naruto
Summary: Naruto has brought Sasuke back with Sakura's help, but war is on the horizon, a new enemy that no one has ever seen before has shown up and threatens everything he holds dear, NaruxSaku Bleach crossover into the Naruto world
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, or anything related, if I did, I would be the happiest person on earth  
This is in no way related to my ST Predator series, I hope you all enjoy

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 1  


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It has been over 5 years since the day Naruto made the promise to Sakura to bring Sasuke back to her, along the way there were many obstacles, such as Orochimaru and Akatsuki. Orochimaru had been taken care of by Sasuke when he attempted to take over Sasuke's body before he had killed Itachi, and Akatsuki had all been killed in a massive collaboration of all the 5 ninja nations, well all except for Itachi, who had somehow, manage to get away.

Naruto had tried and failed twice already to bring Sasuke back "as both seen in Naruto and then Shippuden" but he continued to vow to bring Sasuke back, even if it killed him, he had made a promise to Sakura, and he never goes back on his word, it was his Ninja way, and any chance he had at making Sakura smile, he would do it, he would make Sasuke fall for Sakura if he had too, anything for her, even if it meant not being with her himself, her happiness is all that mattered to him

We find our hero in the massive fields of Rice Country, the once lush and beautiful green fields were now charred or in flames, in front of Naruto stood Sasuke, both of their clothing had been ripped or burnt, they were both panting hard with bruises, cuts and blood all over them, the battle they had just fought had taken most of their energy and chakara out of them

"Well Idiot, you have gotten better since our last encounter" Sasuke said in his smug and superior tone of voice

"Just give it up Sasuke, I told you I would bring you home, and that's what I am going to do" Naruto responded, he was hoping that Sasuke would finally listen to reason "Even after everything you have done, Konoha still wants you back, we are ready to forgive you Sasuke!" he pleaded

"And go back to that weak village? Give me a break, Admit it Naruto, you are one of the, if not there strongest Ninja, and you can't beat me, the only reason Konoha wants me back is to use me as a weapon"

"What are you talking about?! Konoha does not treat its Ninja's that way and you know it! And what about Sakura? She must have cried so much over you" Naruto spat out

"Every country is the same, just because Konoha prefers piece over war, doesn't mean that they don't take steps into insuring that they can keep their piece, they still need weapons and strong ninja's, as for Sakura, I don't care about that weak pathetic excuse for a Ninja, do yourselves a big favor and just forget about me"

That last line about Sakura was too much for Naruto "How dare you call Sakura weak!" he screamed out as he began to run towards Sasuke

Sasuke just smirked, knowing he had hit one of Naruto's nerves, however neither one of them had any chakra left to spare on big moves, they would have to rely on taijustsu, and Sasuke was more than confident in his skills, he used his blade to guard against Naruto's kunai, Naruto quickly bent down to try and trip Sasuke but blocked his kick

"As always, your feelings towards her are what makes you weak! Why do you think I broke all ties with you two, for as long as you allow those stupid bonds to hold you and drag you down, you will never be able to beat me"

"Those bonds are what give me my power!" Naruto responded in rage

Sasuke used this opportunity to kick Naruto in the head sending him crashing to the ground; Sasuke gave him a smug smirk, knowing Naruto didn't have the stamina left to continue the fight. Naruto was slowly trying to get up, he was on all fours, but Sasuke kicked him in the stomach

"Stay down, it will make things easier for you, the more you struggle the more pain you will have to endure, you should have used the foxes power, then perhaps you would have stood a chance" Sasuke said as he lifted his sword to finally put an end to the battle

"Unlike you, I don't lust for power"

"And thus, that is why you will always lose to me Naruto, you are such a loser, but it all ends here" Sasuke was about to swing his sword and cut off Naruto's head when suddenly he sensed something, he put away his sword and took off, leaving Naruto badly hurt and on the verge of unconsciousness

"So…..This is how I die huh? So much for becoming the greatest Hokage ever, my only regret is that I won't be able to see Sakura smile anymore……The sky is pretty tonight, there seems to be a lot of stars out, not a cloud in the sky……" Naruto thought to himself as his eyes slowly began to shut "I hope she will forgive me, goodbye, my sweet cherry blossom"

A team of Ninja bearing the leaf headbands were approaching the scene at high speed; the leader of the group was a pink haired girl

"I think I can see something" Said Sakura

"Is that fire and smoke?" Said the blond girl Ino

"This looks troublesome, be prepared for anything" Said the laid back Shikamaru

It quickly became evident that whatever had taken place here must have been a fierce battle by 2 strong ninja's, Sakura was hoping Naruto wasn't hurt as she had a feeling he was one of the causes of this mess

"I think I see someone laying on the ground" Ino shouted out "But I can't tell who it is from here"

Sakura began to run even faster fearing the worst "God, don't let it be Naruto" she thought to herself

As her team neared the downed shinobi Sakura almost let out a shriek of horror, her fears had now been confirmed, Naruto laid motionless on the ground, his body burnt and bruised, she quickly kneeled down beside him and began administering first aid

"He is badly hurt but he is still alive, Ino give me a hand" Sakura shouted out  
Ino obeyed without question and knelled on the other side facing Sakura and began helping her heal Naruto.

Shikamaru looked around, he couldn't believe the sheer amount of damage done to the fields, it must have been one hell of a battle, there were very few people capable of leaving Naruto in such a state, and he knew who had done it, They were after all on his trail, but Naruto ran off without telling them, perhaps he didn't want to see his friends get hurt, perhaps he wanted to bring Sasuke back home on his own, there were many things floating in Shikamaru's mind

"It was him….." He just plainly said

"I know…" Sakura answered

She looked at Naruto and smiled as she felt his life was now out of danger  
"Naruto….I relieve you of that stupid promise you made to me all those years ago…No longer do I want to see you suffer" she whispered so the others couldn't hear her, she got up and looked at Ino "His life is no longer in danger, Ino, I know you can finish without me"

"And where are you going?" Shikamaru asked

"To finish what he started" She responded

"What? You're going after Sasuke?! Are you crazy?! Look at what he did to Naruto!" Ino shouted

"Exactly, And if Naruto is in this state, Sasuke cannot have that much left in him, I can still sense him, he is still near, I can catch him, and Finish what Naruto started"

"This is foolish; let me come with you at least!" Shikamaru said

"No! Stay here and protect Ino, If someone were to stumble upon them, she would be stuck alone to defend Naruto, plus, this is something only me or him can do" She said staring at Naruto "He is our problem….Our team mate……Our Friend"

Without warning she began to run in the direction of where she felt Sasuke's faint presence

"I am coming for you Sasuke" she thought to herself "And I will drag your sorry ass back to Naruto and force you to apologize for what you did to him, then you're going to apologize to me!!"

Not too far from there, Sasuke was still trying to get away, but he sensed someone was coming after him

"So, the little pink haired princess is coming after me huh? This should be interesting, however, for her own sake, I hope she doesn't, or else, I will have to kill her"

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**End Chapter 1  


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	2. Chapter 2

Alright, Alright, i know i said i wouldn't be posting this story as fast as my other ones, but i had some inspiration, and i would have hated to just waste it, so I don't know how long these busts of inspirations will last, but i will take full advantage of them :)

As always, i hope you all enjoy, i notice that you guys are reading this a lot more then my other ones, so it makes me happy ;) , also **woowoo13 **thanks for the review, i hope you keep reading :)

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, or anything related, if I did, I would be the happiest person on earth**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 2  


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Sakura was running as fast as she could, the only thing on her mind was to catch up with Sasuke before he could get away again, she finally reached the end of the fields, a large forest stood in front of her, without a second though she jumped on the nearest branch and began to jump from tree to tree with lighting speed, she was determine to catch up with Sasuke

Sasuke could feel her getting closer and closer, in his current state he would not be able to outrun her "Well then, I guess I have no choice, if she won't let go, then I will have to make her" he thought as he was searching for a good place to stop and fight her, he spotted a clearing up ahead and decided it would be as good a place as any, he jumped down from the tree and sat down, he began to meditate and calm himself in an attempt to regain some chakara for the upcoming fight

Sakura had felt that Sasuke was no longer on the move, she was so close, she wasn't going to let him get away, not this time, not after all that he had done. Slowly the clearing where Sasuke had decided on for the fight was coming into view, she could see a silhouette sitting in the middle, though she could not make out visually who it was yet, there was no doubt in her mind, it was him, Sasuke. She jumped down from the tree branches and continues the rest on foot as fast as her legs would allow her to go until finally she had arrived

There he was, the famous Uchiha Sasuke, one of Konoha's missing nins, right there in front of her

"Sasuke!" she screamed out

"So, you have finally caught up with me huh Sakura?" he responded, keeping the smug superior attitude of his

"You're going to pay for what you did to Naruto!"

"Is that so? He is still alive? And how are you going to force me to do that huh? We both know that you were always the weakest link on our team, the pathetic love sick worthless little bitch, always focus on boys and never on training, always worried about your looks, your hair, your nails, I doubt much has changed"

Sakura looked at him in anger, how could he be the same Sasuke she knew? Sure he was always arrogant and smug, and thought of himself as superior to just about everyone, but not like this? Or perhaps she was blinded by that stupid crush she had always had on him, well that was over "Sasuke, you have no idea what I am capable of, the old Sakura you left behind died on that nigh when you abandoned us, the one that was love sick with you, she is gone now"

"Then what are you doing here then? We both know the only reason you are actually here is to bring me back, and somehow make me fall in love with you, but I am telling you, neither is going to happen, even if by some fluke you were able to beat me, I would never fall for a weakling like you"

"Why am I after you? You really want to know? 5 years ago, a stupid little blonde kid made a promise based on what I thought I wanted at the time, he has tried and failed, and yet no matter how much he gets hurt, he always gets back up and goes right back after you, he is a better ninja then you will ever be! And though my reasons for wanting to drag your sorry ass back home have changed, it is in no way because of that silly little crush I use to have on you, it is so that he can finally stop chasing after you, Sasuke, this ends here, one way or another"

"Heh, so you really have moved on huh? Well I guess when you realized that you were aiming too high with me, that you could settle for trash like Naruto huh? Well then, bring it bitch"

Sakura clenched her fist in anger, how dare he call Naruto trash? "There is nothing going on between us other then friendship! And you call him trash? Why? Because you can beat him? The only trash I see here is you Sasuke; even your brother is worth more than you are"

Sasuke got up from the ground and got into a fighting stance "Shut up bitch! You know nothing about my brother, or my family, you are right about one thing though, this ends here and now, I will kill you and personally deliver your lifeless corps to that dumbass Naruto, then I will kill him too after he suffers from the pain he will feel knowing he was unable to protect you" he said with a smirk

Sakura had heard enough, it was obvious to her that he wasn't going to come back without a fight, she began to focus her chakara into her clenched fist, Sasuke was grinning, thinking that he had nothing to worry about, he dodge the attack with ease, however, he felt something odd, that was no regular punch, he could feel the chakara radiating from her fist

He activated his Sharingan and checked her out, he could now see the chakara build up in her hand "Such a basic technique, I thought that you had actually improved there for a second, but you're still the same, weak, pathetic, worthless…."

But before he could finish his sentence she went right back on the attack, he dodge the attack once more, but this time her fist hit the ground with fury. There was now a huge crater where Sasuke use to be, this caught him by surprise

"What the hell was that?" He thought to himself

"Call me weak again, and I swear, you won't be able to recognize your face if I ever connect with it"

"Alright, I will admit it, you did surprise me, and you did improve a little, but you are still no match for me, you even just said it yourself, if you ever connect, which you won't"

She began to make hand sighs, sighs that Sasuke had seen before "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" Sakura yelled out, and in a poof of smoke, there were now 5 of her now

"So I see he tough the shadow clone, it's not going to help you though, just admit it, you are overwhelmed, outmatched, this is your final chance to turn back"

"I think actually that you are worried, normally you would be right, I would not be able to beat you, however, your fight with Naruto has left you drained, you have only had a very short time to regain some chakra, the Sharingan must be burning what's left of it, so you're trying to persuade me into giving up, in the hopes that I will believe you"

"HA I was just trying to spare your life, but if you are that intent on dying, then so be it"

"Spare my life? Yeah right, we both know that you don't have the chakara needed to win this battle, I on the other hand am still fresh, and you are the one who should give up Sasuke"

Sasuke gave her a smug little smirk as he took out his blade; suddenly it began to glow as he was getting ready to launch his attack "Don't say I didn't warn you"

He began to run towards Sakura and her clones; one by one he sliced threw them like a hot knife on butter, until only the original remained

"As you can see, I have plenty of chakara left to finish you off, this is the end Sakura"

His blade was still glowing as he attacked Sakura relentlessly, she dodged the attacks, the blade came very close to cutting her on several occasions, he cut a few strands of her hair that flew in the path of the blade, as well as some pieces of her clothing until he had finally found an opening, he swung his blade, Sakura had no choice but to block it with one of her kunais "Chidori sword strike!" he screamed out as both weapons collided

The resulting explosion sent Sakura flying through the air, she was only stopped by a tree as her back hit it with force, she coughed up a bit of blood from the impact, but the worst part was her body, it was now all numb, she could barely feel anything, she sat up and looked at Sasuke as he was approaching

"Well then, would you care to tell me again about how I lack the chakara to beat you?"

"This isn't over yet....you bastard" she responded, coughing up some more blood

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, you are just as bad as Naruto when it comes to facing the truth, you're not even in my league, you have no doubt notice the numbness in your body by now huh? Well it will take your body some time to recover from that, leaving me with more than enough time to finish you off, good bye, you pink haired freak!"

Just as he was about to give Sakura the final blow, she smirked at him, suddenly from beneath Sasuke, a Sakura clone shot up, her fist was shut and full of chakara, she swung her arm towards Sasuke's jaw, this time, he could not dodge the attack, and it connects, it sent Sasuke flying upwards with enough force to almost knock him out then and there, but she wasn't done yet, she focused every last ounce of chakara she had left in her foot and used it to slam it into his stomach sending him crashing to the ground along with her leg on top of him, the clone then disappeared in a poof

"The shadow clone is not the only thing I learned from Naruto…" She said as she slowly began to get up, her body was still numb, but she was starting to feel the extremities of her limbs once again

She began to walk, towards Sasuke's body, who was on the verge of unconscious

"I can't believe that I was beaten by you, go on then, finish it" he said coldly

"Sorry Sasuke, I am not going to kill you, I am going to drag your sorry self all the way to Naruto's feet, where you will beg for his forgiveness and apologize to him, then you will do the same to me, once that is done, we will drag you back to Konoha, where you will face justice for your crimes"

"And if I refuse to grovel at your feet?"

"Trust me, you're not going to want the alternative" She said with a smirk

"And what would that be?"

She clenched her fist and without warning punched Sasuke as hard as she could knocking him completely out

"My next punch will be at full power…"

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**End Chapter 2  
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	3. Chapter 3

Well here is the new chapter, i hope you all enjoy it, thanks for the positive reviews so far :)

**fightingfalconfan**, thanks for your support, i hope you keep reading and enjoy the new chapter

Thanks **dbzgtfan2004**, I agree with you 100%, i am a big fan of NaruxSaku :)

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, or anything related, if I did, I would be the happiest person on earth**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 3  


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Hinata, Shino and Kiba were guarding Konoha's front gate, Kiba was playing around with Akamaru while Hinata and Shino were just sitting at their post, it was still the morning and there wasn't much to do

"How did we get stuck with this job, its soooo boring" Kiba said as he joined his fellow team members

"Even the smallest bugs have a purpose in life, same applies to every job we do" replied Shino

"Man, you can't find an answer to everything in bugs Shino"

Hinata sighed, but she knew better then to get in the middle of her team mates, she was looking out at the horizon, day dreaming, when suddenly she saw something move in the distance

"Hey guys, I think we have someone coming" She said

"That smell, its Naruto and his team! No doubt about it" Kiba responded

As Naruto's team got closer, the trio finally noticed that Naruto was injured, being helped by Sakura, while Shikamaru and Ino carried the unconscious Sasuke "Someone get us some help! Naruto needs medical attention" Sakura yelled out when she was close enough

Hinata rushed off towards the hospital while Kiba ran towards them to take Ino's place to carry Sasuke "What happened?" Shino asked

"Naruto was injured while fighting Sasuke, he is stable, but I will feel better once we get him to the hospital"

"Sakura chan, I am fine, I can even walk on my own" Naruto said, and to try to prove his point, he tried to push Sakura away, but a sharp pain shot through his ribs, he almost fell but Sakura caught him just in time

"You idiot! Why won't you ever listen to me! You're not fine, you almost died!" She told him in an angry tone

Hinata was already coming back with a medical team, they rolled open a stretcher, Sakura laid Naruto down on it, and they carried him away while she fallowed them

"What about this guy?" Kiba asked while looking at Sasuke

"Sakura gave him enough sedative pills to keep him sleeping for the next 3 days, he isn't injured, so I guess we should take him to the holding cells, let Lady Hokage decide what to do with him" Shikamaru responded

Meanwhile Tsunade was going over paperwork in her office, she was looking out the window, longing to be free, but the work of a Hokage is never done, she then began to grin as she opened a "secret" compartment to her desk, she pulled out a glass and a bottle of Sake, she began to pour herself a drink when the door bursts open and Shizune runs in

"Hokage Sama, Naruto's team is back and…Is that Sake?"

Tsunade shoves the Sake under her desk trying to hide it from her nosy assistant

"Of course not, I am the Hokage, how could I drink on the job? … And….You're not buying any of this are you?"

"Not a single word, hand it over"

Tsunade sighs as she hands over her bottle, but grins knowing that her secret hiding spot has not been found yet, and there was another bottle waiting for her "Now you were saying something about Naruto's team?"

"Yes, Naruto's team has returned, he was injured and is being checked out at the hospital, but they were able to do it, they finally brought Sasuke back!"

"What? That's great news! Sasuke was the last loose end left, with Orochimaru dead, Akatsuki no longer a threat, Sasuke was the last piece of the puzzle"

"But what about Itachi? He is still out there….."

"Don't worry about him, we can handle Itachi, plus he hasn't shown any desires in revenge against Konoha, for now, let us enjoy the success of team Naruto, now do you think I could have a drink? After all, it is a special occasion"

Shizune sighed "Oh alright, I guess just this once" she handed the bottle back to a grinning Tsunade who happily drank up.

A few hours later at the hospital, Naruto was resting in one of the rooms, Sakura walked in dressed in her nurse's uniform; she was the assistant medical chief of the hospital, with Shizune being the medical chief

"How are you feeling?" She asked him with a smile

"I am alright, thanks Sakura chan"

"Good" She continued to smile as she got near him, and without warning, she slapped him across the face, hard enough to leave a red print

"OWW what was that for!!" he screamed out

"That's for being an idiot!! How could you have run off on your own like that!? What would have happened had you died huh?"

"I….I…..I am sorry Sakura chan……I just didn't want you to get hurt, I knew he was nearby, I thought I could take him"

"Well you thought wrong, had we arrived 5 minutes latter….." she turned around to try and hide the tears that were starting to form around her eyes "You would have died"

There was silence in the room, Naruto didn't know what to say, he wanted to say something, but he was afraid of making things worst

"I want you to promise me Naruto, don't ever do that again"

"Do what?"

"Leave me alone like that.. When I saw you lying on the ground…." The tears were now freely flowing down her cheeks, she refused to allow Naruto see her like this, she couldn't face him, and she didn't want him to think that she was weak

"Sakura chan…"

"Promise me you won't do something stupid like that again, I don't want to lose you Naruto"

Naruto was fighting off some tears of his own "I am sorry Sakura chan, but that is a promise I cannot make, I am a ninja, and every time I go on a mission, it could be my last, that is our way of life"

"I know, what I meant to say is, don't ever run off on your own again, if it's because you think I am too weak to fight by your side, then I will train harder"

"No Sakura chan! You are not weak….I…I think you are one of the strongest people I know"

"Then promise me!! Don't ever abandon me again to fight on your own!!"

Naruto was staring at Sakura "Sakura chan, I promise, on my way of the Ninja, I will not ever leave you behind again, and that's a promise of a life time" He said lifting his hand in the air and giving a thumbs up, since he couldn't do the "nice guy" pose while laying down "And I never break my promises"

"I know you don't" She said as she began to smile, she turned around to look at him

Just outside the door, Hinata had been listening to the conversation; suddenly someone comes in from behind her

"Hey Hinata, what are you doing? We are waiting for you"

Hinata turned around to see Kiba walking up to her

"Oh Kiba, sorry I lost track of time"

"Well me and Shino are waiting for you, did you forget about our get together tonight?"

"Oh no I didn't give me a few minutes, I will be right out" she responded

Kiba shook his head wondering what was going on, then he realized what room he was standing in front of "Naruto huh? When is she going to realize that he has no interest in her" He sighed and walk back to join Shino and wait for Hinata

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**End Chapter 3  
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	4. Chapter 4

And here is the new chapter, i hope you all enjoyed, i worked hard on the Uchiha background story

where r my chips, i am not sure if that's a good or bad review :P I will assume it was a good one lol and thanks :)

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, or anything related, if I did, I would be the happiest person on earth**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 4  


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Sasuke was staring at the ceiling of his cell, it was no regular cell, it was a cage in the middle of a room, with 4 ANBU guards on each corner, there were 4 seals on each side of the cell that were suppressing his chakara, and in order for him to bypass them, he would need to destroy them all, however it could only be done from the outside, the bed itself was bolted to the ground so he could not use it as a weapon, there was no getting out, not even for the famous Uchiha Sasuke.

Tsunade entered the room, she stared at Sasuke .

"What do you want" he asked her coldly "are you here too mock me? Or perhaps try and convince me to rejoin the leaf"

"Leave now" She said while looking at the 4 guards

"But Hokage Sama!" one of the guards answered "It's dangerous to leave him unguarded"

"He will not be unguarded, I will be here"

"But…."

"Do you not think that I, the Hokage of the leaf, can't take care of a caged, powerless ninja?"

"No, of course not Lady Hokage"

"Then leave this room, I will call you back in once I am done"

"As you wish Hokage Sama"

The ANBU guard signals for the others to fallow him out of the room while Tsunade never even took her eyes off of Sasuke, the door shuts and there is an odd silence in the room, Sasuke decides to break it first

"What, are you here to brag about how I have finally been captured? On how your precious team of Naruto and Sakura finally defeated me? Or is it as I first assume that you are here to try and convert me? Well forget it"

"I am not here to brag, I am not here to try and convince you of anything, I am only here to tell you the truth about what happened about 10 years ago, during the bloody Uchiha incident"

"Tell me about what? There is nothing more that you can tell me that I don't already know"

"Really now? What if I told you that Itachi did not kill your entire clan?"

"What? What are you talking about, I saw Itachi kill my parents with my own eyes"

"You saw him remove a sword from their bodies; did you actually see him kill them? Did you see him kill anybody? Do you truly know what actually happened on that night? I could tell you"

"Why should I believe anything that you tell me?"

"Because I have proof" she took out a few scrolls from her pockets, there were a total of 3 "these scrolls are all written by your father, once I am done telling you the story, I will give them too you, you will be able to confirm that they were indeed written by him, and not forged by me, or anyone else from the leaf" She said while she grabbed a chair and sat in front of the cell "The first thing you need to know is that the Uchiha clan was divided in 2, one group was constantly trying to gain more power and even wanted to take over the leaf village, while the other group were loyal to Konoha and the Hokage, your father and brother were in that group"

"What are you talking about, there were never any disputes among the Uchiha"

"None that you knew of perhaps, but trust me, there was, the group loyal to Konoha was larger, and thus was always in control and could keep the others inline, but then the dark day arrived, the 9 tailed demon fox attacked the village, Many ninja's died that day, including a large number of the Uchiha's loyal to the Leaf, but there were still enough to keep the peace, however, with the death of the 4th Hokage, and Naruto being the vessel for the demon fox, the Uchiha's wanted to have Naruto killed, your father was opposed to this, as he was a very close friend of the 4th Hokage, had Jiraiya not been around, he would have more than likely been chosen to be his god father"

"What does any of this have to do with what I saw on that night?... And wait a minute, Naruto is the fourth's son?"

"Yes, but the forth wanted his son to grow up strong without any special treatment, so he asked the third to keep it a secret, as for the Uchiha's I am getting there, with Itachi as part of ANBU, the other group wanted to use him as a spy on the inside, however your father opposed this idea, and a large number of the Uchiha's that were supposed to be loyal to your father began arguing that Naruto was too much of a risk to be kept alive. One night, at a meeting, many of the Uchiha's voiced their concern about Naruto and how they thought he should be killed, your father refused to agree with them, and it finally erupted, it was a civil war, your fathers group may had been out numbered, but the ones still loyal to your father and Konoha were among the most skilled of the Uchiha, the battle was bloody, as friends turned to foes, brothers turned on each other, by the time it was over, most of the Uchiha's had been killed, including your mother, your father had been mortally wounded, your brother at the time was out a mission, when he arrived he came home to the bloodshed and carnage, he quickly ran to your house and found your mother dead and your father crying over her body, he could tell he was in pain, both physically and emotionally, he wanted to get medical help, but you father stopped him, saying they would arrive to late, he asked him to finish him off, so that the pain would stop, your brother was hesitant, he didn't want to kill his own father, but he didn't want to see him in pain either, but your father insisted, and Itachi finally did it, and that's when you walked in on them"

Sasuke was surprised by the story; he had never expected anything remotely close to that "That makes no sense! Itachi was branded a traitor and the cause of the deaths, plus everything he did to me afterward!!"

"Officially yes, the records show that your brother murdered the entire Uchiha clan, but after he reported what happened to the third Hokage, he decided that he did not want to see the Uchiha name tarnished, he would rather take the fall and let the Uchiha name stay clean, rather than have a report saying that there was a rebellion within the ranks that were un-loyal to Konoha, the third agreed to it since it was Itachi's decision, why do you think that Konoha has never attempted to recapture Itachi? We spent so much time and resources hunting you down, yet we let him go, that is the reason, it's because he never betrayed the village, and is still loyal to Konoha to this day"

"I still don't believe you"

"And I expected as much, that is why I brought these, 2 of these are reports made by the police chief, your own father, they are stating his concerns about a growing number of Uchiha's that were starting to show signs of possible treason, and the last one is a letter to you, he wrote it as he was dying, its written in his own blood, you will be able to confirm that these are not fakes" she handed over the scrolls through the bars "I have one last thing to say and give to you, as much as you may think we are just out to make you into a weapon, it isn't true, you are still a valued shinobi of Konoha, not a weapon, and here, this is from Naruto, he kept it all those years..." She handed him a leaf headband

"This is…"

"Yes, your old headband"

"He kept it all this time?"

"He did, now it's up to you to either accept or decline it, I will give you some time to think about it" She walked out of the room as the ANBU took their places back

The sun was beginning to set on Konoha, Sakura was doing her rounds, humming a tune, she was finishing up her shift, and it had been a long day "I should drop by and see Naruto before I leave, maybe bring him a bowl of Ramen, I bet he would love some" she though happily to herself as she made her way to the cafeteria but stopped suddenly "Wait, I will get him his favorite from Ichiraku Ramen rather then this hospital food" Sakura grinned at herself, knowing that Naruto would really love it

Meanwhile out in the ocean off the cost of Konoha, a large fleet of ships was sailing towards one the fire country's coastal cities, each ship full of Ninja's bearing a headband that no one had ever seen before, it was the image of the moon

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**End Chapter 4****

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**Well things are starting to get interesting huh? :) hope you all had fun reading, next chapter coming soon


	5. Chapter 5

Well here it is, yet an other chapter is released, i am really hoping you guys are enjoying it, also to note, i have downgraded this from rated M to rated T, as i realized, nothing Rated M is planned to happen, however, if i decide to change my mind, i will re make it M and give a warning :)

Ymere, thank you for the review, Naruto and Sakura's feeling for each other are slowing becoming apparent, as for the new people, a little bit of light has been shed on them in this chapter, however as you can read, not much is known about them yet, so keep reading to find out more

Also to note, anything in bold "**TEXT**" is Inner-Sakura :)

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, or anything related, if I did, I would be the happiest person on earth**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 5  


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Sakura was standing in front of Ichiraku's ramen shop wondering what kind of ramen Naruto would like, she figured he would like anything she brought him, well he better or else she though happily and grinned to herself, she entered the small shop, Teuchi was making a fresh batch of ramen in the back while Ayame greeted her "Welcome to Ichiraku's, would you like to see a menu or do you already know what you will be having?" She said with an infectious smile "Wait a second, I know you, you're Sakura!"

At the mention of Sakura's name Teuchi turned around from what he was doing "Sakura? What a surprise! Welcome, Naruto isn't with you?"

Sakura was a bit surprise, how did they know her? This was her first time in the shop; at least the first time that she could remember "No he is in the hospital, that's why I am here"

"Say no more, I know exactly what he wants, one extra large order of pork ramen with extra meat coming right up, oh would you like something for yourself my dear?" The old man said with a smile that was almost as infectious as his daughters

"Father, we don't even know if she is here for ramen!" The young girl said to her father

Sakura was smiling at the pair "No he is right, I was going to get him some ramen from the hospital but I figured he would want some from his favorite ramen shop instead"

"You made the right choice, that hospital slop can't be compared to my award winning ramen!" The man said proudly "So will you be taking anything for yourself?"

Sakura let out a small giggle, the man was almost like Naruto in a small way "Well I guess I could, give me the same as Naruto, except smaller portion"

"One regular size pork ramen coming right up!"

"Out of curiosity, how did you all know who I was?"

Teuchi almost began to laugh at the question while Ayame smiled at her "Naruto talks about you almost none stop when he comes here, he is like family so we know you almost as much as we know him" She responded "He is like a son to me, and Ayame's little brother, I would have adopted him when he was younger had I known about him" Said Teuchi while he was packing up the ramen "And its not because he is my best customer, but because he has a lot of heart, do us a favor, take good care of our Naruto alright?" He told her while handing over the 2 orders of ramen to go

**"He has been talking about us all that time?"** Said Inner-Sakura as Sakura herself was trying to fight of a blush that was creeping up her face that made Ayame smile even wider, Sakura picked up the order and was reaching inside her pocket for money when Teuchi spoke up

"It's on the house my dear, make sure he gets better, and take good care of our boy for us will you?" Said the man with a large smile

"Yes, take good care of him, only you can make him feel better and happy the way he wants to be" Ayame said with a malicious smile on her face causing Sakura to lose her battle with the blush she had been fighting as her face turned red, she thanked them and quickly made her way out of the small shop and headed back towards the hospital

While walking back she was thinking a lot about what Ayame and Teuchi were saying "I know he always had a crush on me when we were kids, but he talked about me during all those years?" she thought to herself **"He isn't so bad, sure he use to be a pranking, annoying little brat that only wanted attention"** Responded Inner-Sakura "But he turned out to be a reliable, hard working team mate, and friend who I could depend on for anything" Responded Sakura to herself **"And he turned out to be a hunk!!"** Inner-Sakura responded back with a huge grin "What? No, he is like my best friend, I can't be having these thoughts about him" Sakura fought back **"Oh come on, I know you better then you know yourself, you can't fool me, you like him, and more than just a friend! And he likes you back, so what's the problem? I know that you don't have feelings for Sasuke anymore, so don't try to pull that on me!"** Said Inner "I don't have the time to argue with you, he my best friend that that's all he is, end of argument!" **"Alright, if you say so, but I know you're just lying to yourself, eventually you will see who was right, and I will be there to say, I told you so"**

Meanwhile Tsunade had returned to her paperwork when Shizune bursts into her office once more "Hokage Sama!!" she screamed out

"What is it Shizune? I told you not to disturb me, how am I suppose to get these done if you keep coming in here"

"I am sorry Hokage Sama, but we just received news from one of our port cities, a large fleet of unknown ships have appeared off the coast, one of the ships has docked and a man claiming to be Kurokage of the hidden moon village of the Night country is waiting for you"

"Kurokage of the moon? Night country? I have never heard of either"

"He says it's from a far away land on the other side of the world, we have never explored that far, so it could be true, the fire lord is already on his way to meet with him, and would like for you to join him"

"Hurm, I guess I have no choice, Shizune, get an ANBU escort ready, we are heading out to meet this Kurokage"

"Right away Hokage Sama" She said as she ran out of the office

"She really needs to find a way to deal with all that energy she always has, perhaps I am not giving her enough things to do?" She said with a grin while thinking of extra work to give her assistant

Sakura had returned to the hospital, the sun had just about set as only a small ray of light was still shining in the sky, Sakura was smiling thinking of how surprised Naruto was going to be when she walked into his room with the ramen he so loves, she walks by a nurse who recognized her "Forehead, what are you doing here? Your shift ended 2 hours ago and visiting hours are over"

"Ino, I told you to stop calling me that! And I am just here to bring Naruto some ramen, I am sure this will cheer him up, as for visiting hours, I am the second in charge of the hospital, one of the perks of the job is being allowed to come to the hospital whenever I want"

"Oh I see now, you are bringing your sweet Naruto Kun his favorite meal, then ravish the poor weak boy's body, and no one will hear you because it's the night, right" She said teasing, knowing it would set off her best friend

"Ino!!" She said whit a large vain throbbing on her forehead indicating how mad she was at the moment

"Yes forehead?"

"YOU HAVE ABOUT 10 SECONDS TO DISAPPEAR OUT OF MY SIGHTS BEFORE I MAKE YOU A RESIDENT OF THE HOSPITAL RATHER THEN A WORKER!"

Ino quickly walked away with a large grin, knowing that her objective of annoying Sakura was completed, but even she knew that Sakura would carry out her threat if she stayed there

Sakura continued on her way towards Naruto's room, wishing she would just have beaten the crap out of Ino instead of giving her the chance to get away, but she had better things to do anyway, Naruto must had been getting hungry, since she had told the staff not to feed him since she would take care of it, she finally reached his room, she opened the door with a very large smile on her face, but it didn't last long as his bed was empty, she suddenly got angry, he was not schedule to leave the hospital for another few days, which meant that he snuck out, she had gone through all this trouble of getting him his favorite ramen, and he had ran off! Oh how he would pay she thought to herself "NARUTO, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!" She turned around only to bump into someone, whoever this was better get out of her face right now, because she had a dead man to find, or he would be dead once she was done with him, she backed away and froze

It was Naruto, and he was very mush afraid of her right now since he was behind her when she said she would kill him "Sa…Sakura chan, I don't know what I did but I am sorry, please forgive me…" he begged as he got on his knees shutting his eyes expecting to be hit with all of Sakura's fury as she had done in the past whenever she was mad with him, but it never came

"Naruto?! Where were you…." She said out of surprise

"I had to go to the bathroom, please forgive me Sakura chan I didn't mean to do it!" he kept on pleading with her, he still had no idea what it was that he had done, but if Sakura was mad with him, he must had done it, whatever it was

Sakura felt very low at that moment, she had once again jumped to conclusions, and here was Naruto begging for forgiveness for something he didn't do, wait he was begging? "Am I really that scary?" She thought to herself "Get up, you didn't do anything…..I thought you had run off without permission…" She said with remorse in her voice

Naruto slowly got up, making sure she wasn't just trying to give him a false sense of security, that's when he smelled it "Is that….."

"Ramen from Ichiraku, I thought you might want something other than hospital food" She said while handing him the bag and fighting off a slight blush as Naruto took the bag with a huge grin on his face, the fear of being beaten to almost near death by Sakura was already a memory of the past as he sat down to eat with Sakura, she smiled at him as she took out her own bowl, she was staring into Naruto's eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, she thought about how she could lose herself in them **"Just friends huh?" **Said Inner-Sakura "Shut up!!"

Naruto was just staring at her wondering what was going on "But Sakura Chan….I didn't say anything…"

Sakura suddenly realized that she said it out loud rather than to herself "Oh no no sorry Naruto Kun, I didn't mean to say it to you" Then she realized, did she just call him Naruto Kun?! **"Should I say it now? Or do you need more time to accept your own feelings?" **said a grinning Inner-Sakura, but Sakura just ignored her

Naruto was more than puzzled and confused, first she wants to kill him, then she gives him ramen, then she tells him to shut up, and then calls him Naruto Kun? "Why are girls so complicated?" he asked himself with a sigh as he continued to eat his Ramen

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**End Chapter 5  
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I have realized that my chapters are smaller then some of the other fanfics out there however they take longer to make updates, so i am going to ask you all, do you like it better this way? as in small but fast updates, or would you rather larger posts but slower updates, since it would take me longer to type them up :P anyway, either send me a message or say it in a review what you would prefer


	6. Chapter 6

Well here is yet an other chapter, i have really been on a roll with ideas for this story, and posting them much faster then i had first anticipated i would, so i hope you all enjoy it

i didn't have any new reviews, so i don't have any reviews to respond too :( please review :)

Oh and since no one responded to my question i asked at the end of chapter 6, i can only assume that you all like the size of the chapters and speed that they are being released at, so i won't change anything

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, or anything related, if I did, I would be the happiest person on earth**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 6  


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Tsunade and her group had been marching towards the port city for the past few days, Tsunade didn't know why, but she had an uneasy feeling about this, something didn't feel right "Hokage Sama, we are nearing the city" Said Shizune as she began to walk beside Tsunade

"Let's hurry and get this over with"

"What's the hurry? This is a historic occasion"

"I don't know, I just feel like we shouldn't leave the village for too long, I just have this bad feeling"

"You worry too much, the hospital is in Sakura's capable hands, and Jiraiya Sama is looking after things while we are gone, not to mention Naruto and most of our Shinobis are home right now, so the village should be able handle itself"

"You're probably right, but still, something is bothering me, so let's just hurry back home when we are done"

"As you wish Hokage Sama"

Meanwhile back home, Naruto had finally been cleared from the Hospital, Sakura was kind of sad, because she would sneak away from her shift to talk with him, but his room was empty now, awaiting the next patient, she looks at the clock, noting that there was only one hour left in her shift, perhaps she could go check on Naruto afterwards, making sure that he is alright "**This is Naruto your talking about, you know as well as I do that he is doing fine, and the only reason you want to, 'check up' on him, is because you want to see him again**" Sakura once again ignored her inner self and continued on her work, but she was really confused about her feelings, though she didn't want to believe Inner, but she couldn't deny she had feelings for him either, she let out deep sigh

"What's wrong forehead" said Ino as she approached Sakura from behind

"I told you to STOP calling me that Ino Pig!!" Sakura responded in anger

"Alright, alright, jeez, what's got you all pissed off"

"I just have a lot of things going through my head right now"

"Would it have something to do with a certain orange jump suit blue eyes and blond haired ninja?" Ino said grinning

"And why would he be on my mind"

"Oh I don't know, because you had been in rather high spirits during his stay here, and now that he's gone, well you have been more then irritable, so do you want to talk about it? Or do I need to keep pushing some more of your buttons; because you know I will do it" Said a grinning Ino

Sakura wanted to beat Ino so bad right then and there, but perhaps she was right, maybe it was time she talked to someone, and Ino is her best friend, well 'girl' friend anyway "Fine, fine, but not here, let's go somewhere more private, let's go to my office"

Ino nodded as she fallowed Sakura to her office, Sakura sat down in her chair while Ino let herself fall on the couch and put her feet up on the table, making herself completely at home"

"Alright, we are in private, no one can hear us, so spill it"

Sakura sighed "You're so annoying sometimes"

"Yeah, yeah, stop stalling, or do I need to start calling you forehead in order to get results, so what's bothering you"

Sakura fought back an urge to punch Ino "Alright, calm down, you win" Sakura took a few seconds to gather her thoughts "Lately... actually perhaps this has been on my mind for the past few years… Whenever I am with Naruto, I feel happy, I feel safe...I feel like whatever happens, everything will be alright as long as he is there by my side"

"Well he is your team mate, you two have been together for many years, its only normal that you feel a special connection with him, it's like me, Shikamaru and Choji, I feel safe when they are around, because I know they have my back covered, it's almost like were family sometimes"

"No, I don't think you understand what I mean, it's more than that, the other day, I found myself staring at him sleep in his room, it wasn't until a nurse nudge me asking me if there was something wrong that I realized it was 4 AM and my shift had ended hours ago"

"Ohh I see now, so what's the problem?"

"What's the problem!?"

"Yeah, he has always been crazy about you, and now you're starting to have feelings for him, what's wrong with that?"

"The problem is, he is my best friend, and he is the one who I can always rely on for anything, what if I acted on my feelings, what if we started going out and something happened, what would become of our friendship, I don't think I could handle losing what we have now…"

"I understand what you are trying to say, but your all thinking about, what if, stuff that may or may not happen, I have a few what if questions for you, what if you do decide to go through with it, and it turns out to be the greatest move you ever made, you 2 fall madly in love with each other and live a long and happy life together, or what if you decide not to act on your feelings, and some other girl snatches Naruto away from you, could you handle seeing him with someone else? You can't live your life always thinking what if, just live your life the way you want to live it, if you love Naruto, then go for it, don't let something that may never even happen stop you, fallow your heart Sakura"

Sakura was silent for a moment "Do you ever still think of Sasuke?" she suddenly asked

Ino was caught off guard, why would she bring up Sasuke? She didn't still have feelings for the bastard did she?! "No, why?"

"Well because…"

"Because of a silly crush I had on him when we were young? I got over that when he decided to abandon us"

"But, when you think about it…Naruto has had a crush on me ever since we were kids…"

"No, it's different, we had a silly crush on the hottest guy in the village, Naruto has had more than a crush on you, sure maybe at first, but a crush does not explain everything he does for you, he cares about you, if you asked him to kill someone for you, somehow I think he would do it, and in all honesty, Sasuke has done NOTHING to keep your, or my affection, he treated us like trash from day one, the closes you ever got to him was being accepted as his team member" Ino stopped to look at Sakura, she could tell that she was deep in thought "Just take it one step at a time, maybe go out on a real date with Naruto, see what happens, and go on from there"

"Yeah, maybe your right, my shift is almost over, maybe I should go talk with Naruto"

"Alright, now, after your date, I demand details, understood?"

"Why do you always have to be so nosy?"

"Because, it's my job" She said with a huge grin

Tsunade and Shizune had finally arrived; they could see the huge ship docked

"Look at the size of that ship!" Tsunade said as she could only stare at the massive hull

"Well I guess you would need a big ship to get across the ocean safely"

"And they have an entire fleet of those? This looks more like an invasion then a diplomatic talk"

"Ah, Lady Hokage, we had been waiting for you" Said a rather large individual

"Fire lord, I am sorry for being late, have you already met with this Kurokage yet?"

"No, he wanted to wait until the both of us had arrived, and now that you have, we can proceed, he is waiting for us, we have been invited to board his ship, the city magistrate has already had a visit, he said the ship is unremarkable"

Tsunade, the Fire lord and an ANBU escort made their way to the docked ship, 2 men guarded the entrance, both bearing the headband with the moon cress "Halt, who are you" said the first ninja

"I am Lady Tsunade, 5th Hokage of the leaf village"

"And I am Koumei, the Fire Feudal lord"

The ninja suddenly bowed his head at Tsunade "My apologies, we didn't know who you were, the Kurokage is waiting for you, please fallow me"

Tsunade turned to one of her ANBU escorts

"2 of you come with us, the rest of you stand guard out here, if you don't hear from us within the next hour, then you know what to do"

"Yes Hokage Sama" said as he bowed his head to her

"Being a bit overcautious aren't you lady Hokage?" said the fire lord

"You can never be too careful in these situations my lord" She simply responded

The moon ninja lead them through the ship until they reached a door where another ninja was standing guard "The Hokage of the Leaf's fire country is here"

The ninja guarding the door quickly entered while the other one leading the group waited, the ninja came back and opened the door "The Kurokage will see you now"

Tsunade, the fire lord and the 2 ANBU escort enter the room, a man with orange hair was sitting as his desk, he had a black kimono that covered a white shirt and a very large sword on his back, he grinned at Tsunade "Ah, Lady Hokage, you are as beautiful as the rumours say" he said while kissing gently her hand "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurokage of the moon village, from the Night country" (Yes from bleach :P)

"as the Fire Feudal lord, It is an honour to meet you Kurokage" He said, trying to get some attention as he felt ignored, but the Kurokage gave him little attention

"What brings you to our side of the world?" Tsunade asked

"Wanting to meet new people and make new friends of course, perhaps even establish some trades, I am sure that we have things that you could use, and we could ask the same in return"

"Of course, we are always looking for new trade partners and friends, isn't that right Lady Hokage?" Said the fire lord, who was starting to get irritated with being ignored

"Of course" Tsunade simply responded, staring into Ichigo's eyes, trying to figure out what he was really up too, for some reason she couldn't bring herself to trust him "But if you don't mind me asking, that's a mighty fleet of ships you have there, isn't it a bit much for simple diplomatic talks?"

"Ah yes, I can understand how you could see that as a sign of a threat, but truthfully when we left our country, we didn't know what we were getting into, how long the trip would be, the dangers we would face, we brought all the supplies we could possibly need to remain at sea for over a year, food, water, supplies and even parts to repair our ships"

"I see" Tsunade responded "Well have you tried some of our local food? I am sure that we could sit down and negotiate these trades at the dinner table"

"Of course, if you give me an hour or so to get ready, I will be more than happy to join you for dinner"

"Very well, I look forward to our talks" Tsunade and her party left the ship, the fire lord was more than happy to leave as he was no longer interested in a man who just ignored him, he left informing Tsunade that she was in charge of the negotiations

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**End Chapter 6  
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Again, please review, i am always open to your opinons, and yes i know i threw in some bleach in there, but i always though that the reapers uniform would make an awesome ninja outfit, don't you think? ;)


	7. Chapter 7

Alright, this is a longer chapter then the others, i had a lot of fun typing it up, and i hope you all have a lot of fun reading it :) , i would like to thank my reviewers, who i will respond to in a minute here like i normally do, the more reviews i have, the more it makes me want to post this story faster as it makes me happy to see so many people enjoying my story, in all honesty when i started this story, i did not expect to be posting the chapters this fast, i though at most once a week if not once every 2 weeks, but i have had so much inspiration for the story, and to top it off, with all you guys enjoying it, it has just been such a pleasure to write, i want to say that if you guys wish for me to continue once this story is over with a sequel, i would be more then happy to do so, so please, review, as i love to see your opinions as i value them, also if you have questions or anything, i will answer them, i respond to every single one of my reviewers :), so i thank you all, now to respond to my reviewers

xzavx, you have pretty much reviewed every single one of my chapters, and i am so happy that you are enjoying the story as much as you are, about what you said for chapter 1, yes, i did want to make Naruto win the battle at the beginning, but i decided that i wanted to give Sakura a bigger role, one that i think she did superbly :)

Cloud Ex-SOLDIER, thank you very much, i am happy to see that my attention to detail is being appreciated, and i hope i continue to deliver the details as i continue on in the story

Well, that's all for the reviewers, so on with the story

**STORY EDIT - I was re-reading my story like i normaly do in order to make sure i didn't make any big typos and stuff, and realize that i said Sai instead of Kakashi, the reason for this was because i had originaly intended it to be Sai, but changed my mind, i have fixed this typo now :)**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 7  


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Sakura was walking home, she was still thinking about her conversation with Ino "Should I really do it? I mean one date can't hurt right? Knowing Naruto, he is probably just going to screw it up somehow, by taking me out for ramen and making me pay for half, yeah, that sounds like something Naruto would consider a date" she said with a faint smile "**Yet, you would probably enjoy it, if it was him…**" said Inner-Sakura "Alright I have decided, I will take Ino's advice, I will go out on one date, and see where it takes us" Sakura was smiling, just the thought of being with Naruto was making her happy "**We just need to find him now, Let's hurry before it gets dark!**" Inner-Sakura said with a huge grin

Naruto was laying on top of the fourths head, staring up at the sky watching as the sun sets and the stars slowly began to appear, he had trained for most of the day and had decided he could use some time to relax. He was thinking about how Sakura was acting weird lately, he was worried that Sasuke had done something to her "Ever since we came back from our last mission, she hasn't been herself, she seems to act all weird when I am around, she actually missed a door entrance and slammed into a wall the other day while she was staring at me, perhaps Sasuke did something to her vision?" Naruto thought "Perhaps I should have a chat with Sasuke, ask him what happened during their battle, I am sure he won't give me the answers willingly, but I will force them out of him if I have too, because if he hurt her in anyway, he is going to pay!"

Sakura was still looking around town but couldn't find Naruto anywhere "Where could he be?" she wondered

"Where could who be?" a voice asked from behind Sakura

She turned around only to be surprised by none other than Kakashi "Oh Kakashi Sensei, you scared me"

"Sakura, I already told you, we are both equals now, we are both Jonins, so you don't need to keep calling me Sensei"

"I know, but to me, you will always be my Sensei" said with a smile

Kakashi let out a small sigh "So who are you looking for?"

"Just looking for Naruto"

"Well I know he was training earlier, so he is probably resting somewhere"

"Hurm, I think I have an idea of where he could be in that case" She said, a small grin crept up on her face and it made Kakashi smile a bit

"Sakura, I am sorry…" He just blurted out

Sakura was a bit confused, what was he sorry about? "Huh? Why Sensei?"

"For not being with you and Naruto when you fought Sasuke, had I been there, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out the way they did, but I am happy you both came back alive, and that you brought Sasuke back as well"

"It's alright Sensei, we know you were on an important mission, and you and I both know, Naruto would have ran off on his own even if you would have been with us"

"Yeah I know, but still, Team 7 was my… No, it was our team, so I would have wanted to be a part of the mission that brought him back" He said with a bit of disappointment in his voice "Well I will let you continue to look for Naruto, I am sure that he would be happy to see you" he said with a smile, he had noticed the two of them getting closer during the past few years, and always wondered if the two would finally get together

"Thank you Kakashi Sensei, I will talk to you later" She said with a smile as she continued on her way "**So do you think he is hiding there?**" Asked Inner "Of course, it's one of his favorite places to relax and to think" she said with a smile as she ran towards the Hokage Monument thinking about what she was going to say to him once she finally found him

Meanwhile back at the port city, Tsunade was eating dinner while talking to the Kurokage about possible trades "We have plenty of mineral ore that you could use, it is the best ore for weapons, it would be an edge to use against the other nations" Said the Kurokage

"Konoha is not a warring nation, we value peace over fighting"

"Indeed, but do your neighbours all think the same way? I am not saying use the weapons to invade, but as a means to protect your people" He said with a smile

"And what would you want in return for this ore?" She asked

"Well this may sound odd, but although our country is very rich in the ore, we have very few forests, and thus we are in much need of wood, and our neighbours are not very diplomatic, our last attempt resulted in the death of the entire diplomatic team, we have since then ceased all talks with them, so we had to search for other means of getting wood, but it is not even close to meeting our needs" He said simply

"Wood huh? Well wood is something we have in abundance, I guess it's something we take for granted, but you can't possibly be wanting to trade such a valuable ore for mere wood" she said cautiously

"I don't think you understand our situation, to you it may be mere wood because you are surrounded by it, and as you said, take it for granted, we are surrounded by the ore , it is all over our country, from our point of view, it is we who would be taking advantage of you" He said with a grin

"Well in that case, I believe that we have our first trade agreement, we will allow you to cut some of our tree's for wood, in exchange for the ore, however, for every tree you cut, you must plant 2, we may take them for granted, but they are very important to us, after all, we are the village hidden in the leaf"

"Of course, that sounds reasonable" he glanced outside and noticed that the sun was almost set, the moon was starting to shine in the sky "Lady Hokage, it has been a pleasure negotiating with you, but I must take my leave for now"

"So soon? But we just begun the negotiations " She said a bit surprised

"I am sorry, but my people gain power from fighting in the moon light, and thus we tend to train at night, and the moon has just come out, ah, I guess I could make a request"

"And what would that be?"

"We have been training on board our ships for the past few months; it would be great if we could train on solid ground again"

"I cannot permit for your entire fleet to land and deploy its forces, even if it would be for training, although I am not saying that you would attack us, but you have to understand that we wouldn't even allow our own allies to move such a large number of forces within our own boarders other than to aid us during a war"

"Of course, and that is very cautious of you, then how about I only take the men on my ship that is currently docked?"

"I guess I can allow that, but you must stay within the region we designate"

"Of course, I will inform my men of the good news, I hope to continue these talks with you tomorrow Lady Hokage" He said while grabbing her hand to kiss it just before he left

Tsunade motioned for one of her ANBU members to come closer "I want you to keep a very close eye on them"

"Do you think that they would try anything?" The ANBU member asked as he removed his mask

"I don't know, however I can't shake this feeling I have, Yamato, be careful"

"Understood Hokage Sama" he said as he put the mask back on and disappeared in a poof of smoke

Naruto was scanning the sky with his eyes, noting the stars as they appeared, the sun had all but set, you could still see a faint tint of orange on the horizon, suddenly he heard footsteps, but he paid little attention to them, people often walked around the monument, but no one had actually ever seen him in his spot, he was laying back, his arms resting behind his head, acting like a pillow, he could have fallen asleep if he wanted too, it was a very warm night

Sakura was approaching the 4th Hokage's head, she knew that Naruto was around here somewhere, she finally spotted him, it looked like he hadn't noticed her yet, she grinned thinking that he looked peaceful, and kind of cute too as a small blush crept up on her, she slowly made her way to where he was laying down, his eyes were closed "Is he sleeping?" she thought "Should I disturb him?" "**Of course you should! He is ours, now let's get him!**" Inner said in a forward motion while grinning. She slowly made her way towards him "Naruto? Are you awake?"

To her surprise, his eyes shot open, obviously he wasn't expecting anyone to be up here, his reflex made him jump up to his feet, however, his mind had somehow forgotten where he was, and the forward motion of getting up sent him forward, to his horror, he was about to freefall, with lighting speed Sakura grabbed his hand, she concentrated her chakara to her other hand and feet to make sure she wouldn't slip and fall with him, she was holding onto him as he dangled in the open, the only thing under him were very sharp rocks, they didn't look inviting in the least bit, she summoned her strength and pulled him up to safety, Naruto was breathing heavily, realizing how close he came to dying, had he fallen, there was nothing he could have done to stop him from falling onto those rocks, Sakura was also breathing heavily, realizing that she had almost caused him to jump to his death "Thank you Sakura Chan…" he finally said as he was calming down

"No, I am sorry, it was my fault, I shouldn't have startled you like that, I thought you had fallen asleep"

"No, I was just deep in thought, I wasn't expecting anyone to find me up here" he responded trying to make Sakura feel better, he didn't want her to feel guilty

There was an awkward silence, neither one knew what to say "**Come on, ask him damn it!! That's what you came here for right? It's the least you can do after almost killing him!**" Inner demanded "Naruto…" Sakura was staring at the ground, not too sure about how to ask him, or what to say for that matter

"Yes Sakura Chan?" he asked

"Actually, there was a reason that I came here looking for you…"

"There was?"

"Well you see, its, well I have been wondering, if perhaps, maybe, if you wouldn't mind sometime" "**JUST SPIT IT OUT ALREADY! STOP STALLING!**" shouted out a screaming Inner, who was getting annoyed at how Sakura was dancing around the issue "Would you like to go out to dinner sometime? You don' have too, it's just, I guess it would be nice if the both of us could do something together you know"

Naruto blinked, did Sakura just ask him out? No, there had to be something else going on, Sakura had never shown any interest in him before, why would she suddenly start now? But what possible motive could she have? Whatever it was, a date with Sakura was still a date with Sakura "Are you kidding? Of course I would love too"

"**CHAA!! YEAH THAT'S RIGHT!! HE IS OURS NOW!**" Inner shouted in triumph "Calm down, just because he has agreed to go out doesn't mean that he is ours" "**Oh come on, stop being a wet blanket, admit it, your excited about this!**" Sakura blushed a bit, Inner was right, she was

Naruto was staring at Sakura, he was wondering what was going on, she hadn't move for the past 60 seconds, he moved closer and waved his hand in front of her "Sakura chan? Are you alright?" he asked

Suddenly Sakura snapped out of it realizing how close Naruto was to her, she was surprised and took a step back, and like Naruto before her, she had forgotten where she was, she backed up into the stone and it caused her to lose balance, Naruto quickly grabbed her waste and helped her regain her balance before she could fall, Sakura realize how close Naruto was to her now, and he was still holding her waste, she instantly blushed and turned away, Naruto also realizing the same thing, let go of her once he was sure she had regained her balance and looked away as he was blushing as well "**Oh no Naruto Kun, don't let go now!**" Inner cried out "Thank you" Sakura finally said breaking the silence

"That's alright, I guess we're even now" He said with a huge grin "So, about that dinner, want to go tonight? I haven't eaten yet…Unless you have, then perhaps we can go some other day"

Tonight?! Is he nuts? "I haven't showered, I haven't changed, my hair must be a mess" she thought as her heart was pounding in her chest **"YES, YES, SAY YES DAMN IT!!"** "Well no, I haven't eaten but, but are you sure? I mean you must be tired from your training and…"

"No, I am fine, however, I could use a shower, and there is no way that I am going out with you in these dirty clothes, so how about I come pick you up at around 8?"

**"That's perfect! It gives you plenty of time to get ready; you don't have any excuses, now accept!"** "Jesus, your worst then a school girl…" She thought to herself "That sounds Great, Naruto Kun…"

Naruto blinked, she did it again, she called him Naruto Kun, was this all a dream? If it was, he didn't want to wake up from it "Perfect, see you then" he said before he ran off in the direction of his apartment, he had to leave before she changed her mind, or before he could wake up from the dream

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And that's the end folks, it was indeed my longest chapter for this story so far, i hope you all enjoyed, and once more, please review :)


	8. Chapter 8

Alright, here is the new chapter, this is basically the calm before the storm, things are going to start to liven up very, very soon

i would like to thank all of my reviews, i thank you all for taking the time and review/critic my story, and in return, i take the time to respond to you

TGMaker - Thank you for your review, and i am always looking for ways to better myself, i will try to use two rather then 2 from now on, however a few may slip by, since i do write these at night when i am tired :P but i will do my best

xzavx - thank you once again for your review, i hope you enjoy this new chapter, keep up the reviewing :)

RSfan - thank you for the review, and i agree with you, i am not going to make her call him Naruto Kun all the time, i used it to show that she had affection for him, since the word Kun is added to the name of someone you like, just like when Sakura called Sasuke Kun and yet only called Naruto by his name in the anime, but like i said, she will call him by that name rarely :)

Ymere - Thank you for your review, i understand what you mean when you say the story is progressing slowly, but its my attention to detail that slows me down, however, i think that what makes me story stand out from the others, as Cloud Ex-SOLDIER, the description is so vivid that he has no problem at all to imagine the charecters and whats going on, however do not fear, this is going to change real soon, as like i said, this is the calm before the storm, once all hell breaks loose, things should start going faster :)

Light(dot)Shadows - WOW, like that's all i have to say, i am really touched that you are enjoying my story this much, i can only hope that my future chapters be up to the same standards that has made you happy enough to make such a great review, i look forward to new reviews :)

Alright, that's all of them, once again thank you all, keep reviewing, it only inspires me more and more, well on with the show, here is chapter 8!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 8  


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Naruto was in the shower, still trying to get over the fact that Sakura had actually asked him out, him of all people! He figured that with Sasuke back, that she would try and spend more time with him, perhaps try and convince him to turn back to our side and maybe fall for her, but no, she wanted to spend time with him, and not Sasuke, but was it for the right reasons? Was she asking him out because she liked him, or because they were friends, but she also called him Naruto Kun, something she had only reserved for Sasuke up until now, maybe he was overanalyzing and over thinking things, he had a date, that's all that mattered, and he had to make it perfect, he had to prove to Sakura that he wasn't a screw up, he turned the water off and dried himself off and grinned at himself in the mirror

Sakura had already finished her shower; she was trying to figure out what to wear "I mean, do I try something nice? Or just my regular clothing. It's hard to decide, considering its Naruto, maybe I should just wear my normal everyday clothing, he is probably going to do the same anyway" "**That is unacceptable! How are you going to make his jaw drop in those cloths?**" Inner demanded "He is probably just going to bring me out for some ramen anyway right?" "**So what if he does? I want him to drool over us! And I know you want him too as well**" Sakura grinned at Inner knowing she was right "Alright, then I will go with my red dress that I only keep for special occasions Sakura though happily "**CHA! With this dress, he is going to melt in our hands!**" Inner said approving of the dress, Sakura was pleased with how she looked in the dress as well, she glanced at the clock, it was almost 8, Naruto would be here at any moment to pick her up, she made sure that her hair was perfect, suddenly she heard a knock, it had to be him, she was getting excited, she finished up and ran to the door, she checked herself out one last time in the mirror by the door and opened it

Sakura couldn't believe it, was that really Naruto? Sure he was blonde, he had the same dreamy eyes but it couldn't be him, he had an orange shirt with a black t-shirt under it, he was wearing black jeans and a pair of black shoes, his headband had been wrapped around his right arm, it allowed his hair to be free "**OH , MY, GOD!**" Inner-Sakura couldn't believe her eyes "Naruto?!" Sakura asked as she was surprised, she was expecting him to just be in his regular ninja clothing, with his orange coat and orange pants and sandals

Naruto grinned, knowing he made he had made a good first impression "You look stunning Sakura Chan" He said while kissing her hand "Shall we?" he said offering his arm, she took it, still in shock

"Is this really Naruto? The Naruto that I know?" Sakura though to herself "So, where are you taking me tonight?" She asked, expecting it to be out for ramen

"There is a new Barbeque grill restaurant that just opened, I got us some reservations" He said, his grin had grown

"I have to say Naruto, I am impressed, I expected you to take me to Ichiraku"

"Well, I guess we have never been on a REAL date before, at least not a serious one, so I wanted it to be special" he told her "Wow, Sakura is so beautiful" he thought to himself

Sakura smiled, Naruto had grown up, he wasn't the immature little kid she grew up with

Ino and Hinata were walking home together, they had both just finished their shifts at the hospital, Ino spotted Naruto and Sakura walking down the street "Oh my, is that Naruto?!" Ino said in a surprised voice as her heart almost missed a beat

Hinata looked in the direction Ino was looking and saw Naruto, she was also surprised, but upset, Sakura was holding onto his arm, why did he have to like her, couldn't he see that she was just as good as Sakura? Or was she? She looked at herself and then at Sakura in her red dress, her perfect hair and flawless skin, and to top it all off, her emerald green eyes, who was she kidding, Sakura was better than her in each and every way, she was even a better medical ninja

"Naruto is sooo hot! Sakura is lucky, I wouldn't mind to be holding onto Naruto myself" Ino said with a grin, not realizing Hinata was very depressed "Oh well, I knew they were going to end up together, it was only a matter of time" Ino looked at Hinata for a moment and noticed her condition, then it hit her, she just remembered how Hinata had had a crush on Naruto ever since they were kids, much like how Naruto had his on Sakura since they were kids, Ino felt bad for her "Hey, want to go see a movie? I can get Shikamaru to join us and I bet Kiba would come too"

"I don't know, I don't really feel up to it"

"Nonsense, your coming" Ino said while dragging Hinata along "It's time this girl gets over Naruto, and I think I know how" Ino though evilly as a grin crept up on her face as she thought up a plan, and Shikamaru was going to help, even if he didn't know it yet

Shikamaru suddenly had a chill run through his body "I have a feeling something troublesome is about to happen"

Shizune and an ANBU team were patrolling the perimeter as per Tsunade's orders, they were walking near the coast line

"What do you think about these night ninja's?" one of the ANBU members asked

"I don't know, no one has ever seen or heard of them so we don't have any idea of what they are capable of, perhaps we should ask them for some friendly sparing sessions" The other ANBU responded

"Yeah, that sounds like fun"

Shizune suddenly stopped walking, the ANBU stopped and went on guard not sure why they had stopped

"Look out there, is that a ship?" Shizune asked

"No, it looks more like a small boat, a very rundown and damaged boat" The ANBU responded

"And its coming this way, let's check it out" Shizune ordered

They all concentrated chakara to their feet and began walking on the water towards the small boat, the sail was damaged and there were weapons lodged in the hull, the team boarded the boat

"It looks like this boat has been through a battle" Shizune commented looking around

"But where is the crew?" One of the ANBU asked

"Hey over here!" the other ANBU screamed out signalling them he had found something

Shizune and the other ANBU member ran towards him, they find a dead body, he had a ninja headband on him "He is a hidden in the mist Ninja" Shizune simply said

"Yeah, look, this boat is a hidden in the mist boat" One of the ANBU members said as he pointed towards a hidden mist image on one of the damaged sails

"Then what happened to him, and the crew, not to mention the boat itself"

"And what is it doing here" Shizune asked "Let's explore the inside, You stay out here and keep watch while we go in"

"Yes ma'am" the ANBU member answered

Both Shizune and the other ANBU member entered the inside of the boat, it wasn't big, but it had a lower deck, other than the wheel house. They entered the inside of the boat and found some stares that went the lower decks, they found a kitchen and a living space, and empty rooms, well almost empty, they did have dead Ninja's in them, there was also blood all over the place "What the hell happened here" Shizune said out loud

"Shizune! You have got to see this right now, I found someone, and he is alive, barely"

Shizune ran towards a room in the back where the ANBU was, and pushed him aside, and to her shock and horror, a man was wearing the Mizukage's robes "We have to inform the Hokage right away"

Back in Konoha, Naruto and Sakura were finishing up eating, some people were looking at the young pair, some couldn't believe Naruto was in something other than his ninja outfit, some couldn't believe Sakura was out with Naruto, and some of them thought they were a cute couple, whatever the reason, they had become the center of attention, it only made Sakura feel slightly embarrassed, not because she was being seen with Naruto, but of all the attention they were getting, Naruto on the other hand was just shutting everyone else out, all he saw was Sakura, that's all he really needed to care about really, the night was proceeding perfectly, but they were almost done eating and it kind of made him sad, it would mean that the night would end "Hey Sakura Chan, do you think after we are done eating, that maybe we could, I don't know, take a walk together? You know, away from all the people?" It was a long shot, but he wanted to try anything to extend the night

Sakura stared at him, and smiled "I would love too" She simply said while a very slight blush appeared on her face

Naruto smiled back at her, she had agreed!! She had agreed!! If he could have gotten away with it, he would have jumped all around the room in joy, but of course, he fought the urge, they finished up there meal and left the restaurant after Naruto paid

Sakura was holding onto his arm and laid her head against his shoulder, she couldn't feel any happier or safer at that very moment, she was thinking about how much time she wasted by ignoring Naruto and only seeing him as a friend

They were now walking near the river that went through the village, there was a huge Sakura flower tree in bloom near the water "How about we stop here and sit down, watch the stars" Naruto asked

"I would love too, it's so nice and warm tonight" she answered warmly

They both sat down at the foot of the Sakura tree, and began to stare at the stars, Sakura was sitting in between Naruto's legs with her back against his chest

Meanwhile, Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino and Hinata were just exiting the movie theatre "So you got the plan right?"

Shikamaru sighs "Why do you want to try and hook them up, Hinata has no interest in him anyway"

"Yes she does, she just doesn't know it yet, and he likes her, so we just need to give her a nudge in the right direction! Naruto is taken and she needs to get over him" Ino responded

"You know, you're really troublesome"

"Oh shut up, you know I am right, now are you going to help me or not?"

"You know I can't say no, so yeah, I will help you, but you owe me"

"How about a date with me eh?" She said with a grin

"And how is that a good thing?"

Ino kicked him, it caused him to grin slightly

While they were talking, Kiba and Hinata were having a conversation of there own

"What did you think of the movie? I love the part when they find out the truth, and it's not what anyone expected it to be" Kiba said

"Yeah I guess" She said simply, she was still thinking about Sakura and Naruto, and how they looked so good together, as if they were meant to be together "Why couldn't it have been me hanging onto his arm" she though and sighed

"Hey, so what are you doing tomorrow? Maybe we could all hang out together, right Shikamaru?" Ino said nudging him

Shikamaru sighed "Yeah, it could be…Interesting"

"I have nothing planned, what did you guys have in mind?" Kiba asked

"I don't know, but I am sure that we can think of something to do, what do you think Hinata? I know you're not working because we are both off tomorrow, so what do you say?"

Hinata didn't look interested in the idea, but she didn't want to seem rude to her friends "I don't have any plans, so I guess it's alright"

"Perfect!" Ino said grinning, she was going to make those 2 fall for each other, even if it killed them

"Oh boy, she has that look in her eyes…How troublesome" Shikamaru thought to himself, but he couldn't help but smile, she had good intentions, Ino had changed a lot since they became a team all those years ago, he remembered when it was Sasuke this, and Sasuke that, you could not say one bad thing about him without getting an ear full, she also only thought about herself and even put her needs in front of others, hell, she went to war with her best friend Sakura over Sasuke, but now she and Sakura had mended their relationship, and Ino was thinking of others and trying to help them out, and although he would never admit it, he though she was kind of cute, however, she was much too troublesome

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That's all for now, thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed it :) don't forget the three R's Read Rave Review!


	9. Chapter 9

Well here is yet an other chapter, damn i was so mad at fanfiction, since like Sunday, i was unable to log in!! I bet you guys all had similar problems, because i would like to think that it wasn't just me :P it would also explain the lack of reviews!! :( anyway, since i have no reviews to comment on, i guess there is nothing left but to just shut up and post the story :P

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 9  


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Naruto suddenly found himself in a very familiar sewer "What the? Why am I here, why now of all time!" Naruto wasn't happy to be losing any time he had with Sakura, he walked straight to the locked gate, knowing it had to be 'him' that summoned him here "Hey fox!! Why the hell did you bring me here! I don't need you, actually I haven't needed you in a long time, and I don't plan to ever need you again!"

Red glowing eyes could be seen from behind the bars, however, unlike before, he didn't attempt to break down the gate with his claw, like he would normally do to show how much he wanted to just get out and kill Naruto "Shut up kit, I have brought you down here to talk with you" Simply said the Kyuubi

"What do you want? You better make it quick because I am not in the mood to be here talking with you" Naruto said in anger, he was taking up some of his precious time with Sakura

"I told you to shut up and calm down, like I said, I want to talk with you" The Kyuubi once again said simply, without a hint of anger in his voice, which kind of surprised Naruto a bit, in the past the fox had always mocked him, or tried to kill or eat him

"Alright, then speak, but make it quick" Naruto said calming down, knowing being angry wouldn't get him out of here any sooner

"Kit, I am sure you have noticed, my powers are growing weaker, and weaker, when you were last injured in your fight against the Uchiha, instead of being healed within a day or 2, it took you over a week"

"Yeah, I noticed, so what's causing it?"

"The seal is much more powerful then what your teacher, Jiraiya, had originally thought, he was under the impression that the seal was becoming weaker as you got older, he assumed this because of my many attempts to break out of your body have become very desperate as my powers slowly fades away" The Kyuubi said, sounding slightly concerned for his own life

"So? Why should I care? You deserve to just fade away!" Naruto replied

"I don't expect you to understand me! But I do not wish to die! So I am here to make you an offer kit"

"And what could you possibly offer me?"

"There are several things I can offer you, and in exchange for my life, they shall be yours!"

"And risk you attacking the innocent again? I think not, I am sure your offers are very tempting, but they are not worth risking the lives of the people who just want to live in peace on this planet, you can just fade into nothingness for all I care"

"Just hear me out at least!!" The Kyuubi said, getting irritated with Naruto's pig headedness

"Fine, go right ahead, humour me, but be warned that I will probably just say no" Naruto said with a grin

"The first thing I can offer, is your healing abilities back, I could also give you the ability to go into Kyuubi mode, without any ill affects, and of course, you would not lose control of yourself, however your body could probably not handle any more than mode 4, even then, it would only be for a short amount of time since it would burn your chakara at a much faster rate"

"Have you forgotten that I have already been to 4 tail mode? Granted, I wasn't in control, but my body was able to handle it, well other than your chakra cutting my skin like razor blades"

"That's because I was the one trying to break out, this would be you going into the mode willingly, it would be much more powerful"

"I see, well as interesting as that sounds…"

"I am not done yet!" The Kyuubi said suddenly, knowing that Naruto was trying to turn down his offer "I also offer you the Fox summon scroll, this scroll has not been used or seen by man in many centuries, you would be the first who I allow the contract to be given too, Also, all this would be able to be passed down to your children, and thus, it will become your family's blood limit"

Naruto was seriously considering the offer, and the Kyuubi could tell, it was time to close the deal with the last thing he could offer Naruto that would make this an offer he could not refuse "Lastly, I have added a clause to my contract, I will not be able to attack this world unless ordered to do so by a contact holder, meaning, for as long as you, or your descendents control my contract, I will be under your control, and you should know that I am not able to break the contract, once you sigh it with your blood, it cannot be undone, not by me, nor by you"

"Why are you offering me all this if you're just going to be under my control?" Naruto asked

"I would rather be under your control, then die here, and being in your body for almost 20 years has changed the way I look at the world as well"

"If what you say is true, then I would agree to these terms, but I want to see the contract, and I want to see that clause of yours!" Naruto said sternly

The Kyuubi nodded his head and a contract appeared at his paws, he pushed it threw the gate since he knew Naruto wouldn't risk going near the cage to get it himself. Naruto picked it up and opened it, he read it, it was very much like his frog contract, except the names on the scroll were very few, he would be the third person to sign it, but his eyes scanned the document for that clause, and he found it, it indeed stated that he was not allowed to attack the people of the world anymore unless specified by the contract holder who summoned him, or the other foxes

"very well Kyuubi, I accept these terms" Naruto simply said as he put the contract on the ground and kneeled in front of it, he bit his thumb and pressed on the wound to get the blood to come out, he was about to write his name, but before he could begin the Kyuubi stopped him

"Kit, before you write your name, there is something you should know"

"Oh here it comes, I knew there was a catch!" Naruto said with an angered voice, just about ready to throw the deal back at Kyuubi

"It's not what you think kit, it's about your name… You deserve to know the truth, Uzumaki Kushina was indeed your mother from the whirlpool country, however, your father was not an Uzumaki"

"What are you talking about? Are you trying to say that I am not an Uzumaki? Who is my father if he wasn't from the Uzumaki clan?"

"Honestly kit, I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet, it's almost scary how much you resemble him"

"Wait, what are you saying? That you KNEW my father?! I doubt that!"

"Indeed I knew him, he is the one who sealed me in the body of his new born child…" the Kyuubi simply said, wondering if Naruto could piece the rest of the puzzle

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing "But…The person who sealed you in me was…The 4th Hokage, Namikaze Minato, the great Konoha village hero..."

"Indeed, you are a spitting image of your father"

Naruto though back to all the image and pictures he had seen of the 4th Hokage, the Kyuubi was right when he said that he looked exactly like him, well except for the fact that he had the fox's marks on his face "But why are you telling me this now?!"

"Because, when you sign that contract, in order for it to be valid, you must sign with your true name, Namikaze Naruto"

Naruto still couldn't believe it, he was the son of the 4th Hokage, could it be true? Or was the Kyuubi trying to trick him somehow, if what he said was true that in order for the contract to be valid, he had to sign his real name, what happens if it's a lie and he sighs with Namikaze instead of Uzumaki, then the contract would be void, and the Kyuubi could go right back on his word without breaking the contract "How do I know your telling me the truth?! I signed the frog contract with Uzumaki, and its valid!"

"It's only valid because the frog boss knew your father, they actually fought me together, and he allowed you to sign your name as Uzumaki, I however want you to use your true name, and I want you to be proud of it"

Naruto didn't know what to do, he almost felt like just forgetting everything and just letting the damned Kyuubi die, but for some reason, he couldn't detect any deceit from him, he decided that he wanted to believe, he wanted to be the son of the great hero of Konoha, his idle, his entire reason for wanting to be Hokage himself, he bit his thumb again since the blood had dried up, he began signing his name, N A M I K A Z E, N A R U T O, it began to glow in red as it burnt into the scroll

"I am now yours to command, I only ask that you break this seal so that I may regain my powers and not die a slow death"

Naruto was still slightly hesitant, as soon as he released that seal, the Kyuubi would be free again, but a deal is a deal, and he is not about to go back on his word, it wasn't his way. Naruto walked all the way up to the sealed door, he had never been this close to the Kyuubi before, he was so close that if the Kyuubi chose to, he could easily grab Naruto with his claws and drag him inside so he could kill him and take over his body, but the fox did not move, perhaps he wasn't lying after all. Naruto put his hand on the seal and grabbed it, he thought one last time to make sure this is what he wanted to do, without warning, he ripped it off, the sewers suddenly began to shake, as if an earth quake was going on, the gate suddenly disappeared and the Kyuubi stood there in front of Naruto, nothing could stop him, he could now freely kill Naruto if he wanted too, but he just bowed his head at his new master

"I thank you for your trust, and I shall reward you with everything I promised, from this day on, Namikaze Naruto, you and your descendants shall be the masters of the Fox summing scroll, as well as the Kyuubi mode as your blood limit and your healing abilities, and one last thing, I guess I should have mentioned this before, but the marks on your face will not fade with me being gone, and actually, it will be passed onto your children as well, think of it as a sign of your blood limit"

With that said, the fox disappeared in a ball of smoke "Not like it changes anything for me anyway, I have gotten use to them" he said with a grin, and suddenly he was back with Sakura, she was still laying down on him while watching the sky, although it felt like hours, it had only been a few minutes, Sakura got up and looked at Naruto

"I have an idea!" she said cheerfully

"Oh? And what would that be?" Naruto asked

"It's still early, and I don't feel like going home yet, I am having too much fun being with you, I am just so happy that I want to go dancing! Its only slightly past ten, most of the clubs are still open, please say you want to come with me!!" She said smiling and tilting her head slightly while closing her eyes.

That was it, how could he say no to that?! She could ask him to burn down the entire village with that face and he doubted he could refuse her, not when she is looking at him like that, this was worst then a puppy dog face "Of course Sakura Chan" he said with a grin to match her smile

"Great!!" She said while pulling Naruto up to his feet "This is the best night that I have ever had, and its all thanks to you Naruto"

Naruto blushed a bit, he was in heaven right now; nothing could ruin his night now, absolutely nothing!

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**End Chapter 9  
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Well, the story itself didn't advance much here, but i felt like i wanted to include the Kyuubi in this story, and well i figured this would be a good way, i am sure this has been done before, but there is only so much things you can do with that damn fox :P anyway, i hope you enjoyed, now REVIEW :D


	10. Chapter 10

Alright, well here is Chapter 10, wow , already chapter 10, over 23k words (With this chapter) almost 5k views (3.5k of them are from the US :P) 18 reviews, all in 25 days, i am very much happy with how this story is turning out, however, i would like for you guys to review more, i know your reading because of the amount of views i have!! So come on guys, review, tell me how i am doing, because if you don't how can i be sure your all liking the direction i am heading in? :) anyway there was one review so far, and its my loyal fan and reviewer

xzavx, once again thank you for the review, and of course Naruto doesn't fully trust him either, but it was a good deal, so he took the chance :P as for the scroll, i know its not mentioned, but its assumed that Naruto is now in possession of it, the fox didn't run away with it if that's what you were thinking ;), thanks for the review again, and i hope you keep enjoying the story as the plot continues to progress

Well, that's that, please review guys :) on with the show

**Disclaimer – I still do not own Naruto, or Sakura, If i did, they would have gotten together much sooner in the series :P**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 10  


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Naruto and Sakura were hanging out at one of the dance clubs, they had just finished a song and headed towards the bar, Naruto offered Sakura a drink that she accepted, Sakura had never been this happy in her life, Naruto handed her drink, just then Ino and Shikamaru walked into the club and Sakura flags them down "Hey Ino! Shikamaru!"

"Hey Sakura, Naruto, I didn't expect to see you guys here" Ino said while joining them

"I never expected to see Shikamaru doing anything other than stargazing" Naruto said teasingly

"I wanted too, but this..." Ino gave him a stare that sent chills down his spine, and made him rethink his next phrase "But Ino wanted to go out"

"Wait, are you 2 dating?!" Naruto asked

"What? No of course not" Ino quickly responded "I just needed someone to come with me, I mean, its boring to come here alone, and Kiba is, uh busy with something, and well you 2 were out so I was left with him"

"Nice to know I am your last resort" Shikamaru answered

"Well, it's not that, it's well…Shut up and buy me a drink!" Ino said trying to hide a slight blush

Shikamaru sighed "You're so troublesome sometimes" he said as he walked away to get there drinks

"So are you guys having fun?" Ino asked with a smile

"Yeah, it's been one of the best nights in my life" Sakura said with a big smiles while holding onto Naruto's hand

"Same goes for me, any time spent with Sakura Chan great" He responded with a grin

"Naruto, I have to say, you look great in that outfit, I can't remember ever seeing you in anything other than your ninja outfits"

"Well most of the time I am on missions, so I don't bother wearing anything else, but I do actually have a closet with other clothing, this is just my favorite one"

Shikamaru had returned and handed Ino her drink, and something was odd "Wait, how did you know what she likes to drink? She didn't even tell you what she wanted, unless this isn't the first time you guys have been out together!" Naruto asked, it had caught Ino by total surprise, and even Sakura was a bit surprise because she knew Naruto was right

"Uh well being team mates and…"

"I have been team mates with Sakura just as long as you have been with Shikamaru; I still didn't know what Sakura liked to drink!" Naruto quickly said while cutting Ino off

"So sometimes we come and hang out as friends, what's the problem with that?!" Ino exclaimed

"Well nothing, but why are you being all defensive about it then?" Naruto kept on questioning

Ino was getting frustrated "Naruto, go and do guy things with Shikamaru while me and Sakura have a chat between us girls"

"Guy things?! And are you trying to avoid answering the question?"

Shikamaru shook his head, Naruto didn't know what he was getting into "Come on Naruto, it will get troublesome if you don't do as your told" He said while dragging Naruto away from the girls

Ino let out a sigh of relief, one that Sakura had noticed, although she may be able to get away with brushing Naruto off, she would not be able to do it with her "He has a point you know, is there anything going on between you and Shikamaru?"

Ino blushed a bit "No, there is nothing going on, seriously, we just like to hang out together that's all…"

"Then why are you blushing right now huh?" Sakura asked teasingly

"I am not blushing! It's the lights in here, now enough about me, I want to know how your date with Naruto has been going, you promised to tell me everything remember"

Sakura sighed "She is trying to avoid things with me as well huh? Well she won't be able to hide it from me for long" Sakura though to herself "Ino, I have to thank you"

"What?" Ino asked slightly confused

"You were right, about everything"

"Well of course I was right, but please, tell me what I was right about…Wait are you talking about your date?!"

Sakura nodded her head with a big smile, which made Ino grin "It has been the most perfect night ever! Naruto has really changed, not that I didn't like the old Naruto, it's just, it's nice to be able to sit down and eat dinner with him that isn't consisting of ramen, and some perverted conversation, tonight, he was the perfect gentlemen, and god Ino, I can't believe how good looking he is in that outfit, well he is good looking in anything but I mean really…."

Ino giggled a bit at her best friend's excitement "Yeah, I know what you mean, I saw you guys walking down the street after my shift, and I had to look twice to make sure that it wasn't some other guy you were holding onto, Naruto is so hot! You're lucky, so don't let go of him, or else, I may move in" Ino said with a grin

"Ino! Stop going after the same men as me, first Sasuke, and now Naruto, well Naruto is mine and I am not letting go of him!!" Sakura said with a laugh knowing Ino was just playing around "So yeah, thank you Ino, you know, for giving me the push I needed to ask him out"

"Hey, don't mention it, seeing you smile and radiate happiness is thanks enough for me"

And while the girls were having there talk inside, Naruto and Shikamaru were outside taking in some fresh air, well at least Naruto was, Shikamaru lit up a cigarette "When did you start smoking?" Naruto asked

Shikamaru let out a puff of smoke "I don't know…Shortly after Asuma Sensei died"

There was silence as Naruto was remembering Shikamaru's former Sensei, although Naruto wasn't a part of team 10, Asuma trained Naruto to help hone his skills in controlling his wind elemental ability, he also remembered how Asuma use to smoke "So, since I wasn't able to get anything out of Ino, maybe you can shed some light on the subject, so are you two, you know, going out?" Naruto asked

Shikamaru took in some smoke before blowing it out from his nose "Not really, it's as she says, we hang out a lot together, you don't need to be dating to hang out"

"Yeah I guess, it's just, you guys would make a cute couple you know, and she is just the girl to balance you out"

"And what is that suppose to mean?"

"You're a lazy bastard, she is full of energy, I don't know, it just seems like you two would be a good fit for each other"

Shikamaru took another puff of smoke but stayed silent; Naruto stared at the stars as Shikamaru finished his smoke

"Come on, let's get back in there, if we give them too much time, they will begin to plan 'things' and that would be troublesome" Shikamaru said as he went back inside

"Plan things?" Naruto wondered as he fallowed Shikamaru inside he saw Ino and Sakura giggling and talking to each other

"Ah Naruto, perfect timing!" Sakura said with a huge grin

"I told you they were planning things" Shikamaru whispered into Naruto's ear

"Uh, really Sakura Chan?" Naruto asked a bit afraid of what the girls had planed

"Yeah, I just asked the DJ to play a special song for us" She said with a smile "Please Naruto, would you dance with me?" She asked, once again tilting her head slightly shutting her eyes and smiling at him

Once again, Naruto was under her control, he could not resist that face, not that he wanted to, he just nodded and Sakura took his hand and led him to the dance floor while Shikamaru sat next to Ino

"I feel sorry for him" He simply said

"What? Why? It's just a dance, unlike what you may think, we don't always plan the downfall of men you know" She said teasingly

"No, I mean, he is already under her control, the poor kid will not ever be able to refuse that face of hers"

"Shikamaru, that boy has been under her control from the first time he laid eyes on her" She said with a slight laugh

Naruto and Sakura had begun dancing, Sakura had requested a slow song be played, she wanted to be held by Naruto while she laid her head on his shoulder

"Aww look at that, don't they make the cutest couple?" Ino said

"I guess" Shikamaru said simply

Naruto held Sakura tighter against him, he didn't want the song to end, neither did she for that matter, the entire dance floor had stopped dancing and began watching the young couple, but somehow, they didn't notice anything, it was as if they were in there own little world, however the song had to end sooner or later, and it did, Sakura reluctantly let go of Naruto and he did the same, they both realize that the entire room had been staring at them dance, a few girls had some tears rolling down there cheeks, thinking that it was so romantic, some guys cursed Naruto for being so lucky as to capture Sakura's heart, but most of them were happy for the two of them, Naruto and Sakura both blushed as they left the dance floor

"Aww you two were sooo cute, it's like you were made for each other!" Ino said to her friends

Some of the staff walked into the room and began to say that it was closing time, Sakura checks the time and realizes that it was 2:00 AM "Wow, the time just flew by, I can't believe it's this late"

"Yeah, we should get going too, right Shikamaru?"

He just nodded in agreement

"Alright Sakura, I will see you tomorrow at the hospital then" Ino said while waving goodbye to Naruto and Sakura

Naruto and Sakura were just outside of the club, other people were hanging around chatting "Naruto, would you walk me home?" Sakura asked

"Of course Sakura Chan, how can I let such a cute girl walk home alone at this time of night, who knows what kind of people are lurking around" He said with a huge grin, knowing full well that any unfortunate soul stupid enough to try anything on Sakura would get the surprise of their life when she unleashed her fury onto them

But it was still enough to make her giggle a bit "Thank you Naruto" She said while grabbing his hand as they began walking towards Sakura's house, they walked in silence enjoying the warm air, Sakura was content with just holding his hand, she felt safe, the village could be crumbling and burning all around her, she knew she would be safe for as long as Naruto was by her side

They arrive at her house, it wasn't anything fancy, but still, for a girl her age, Sakura had quite a bit of money, being a Ninja and the executive chief of the hospital, as well as one of Tsunade's assistants and apprentice had its perks. Naruto walked her to the door, she opened it and turned back to look into his deep blue eyes "I had lots of fun tonight Naruto"

"Me too Sakura Chan, I hope that we can do it again sometime"

"Of course!" She said with a smile

Naruto smiled back at her; unfortunately the night was coming to an end, he thought about kissing her, but didn't want to ruin everything by doing something Sakura wasn't ready for, he figured when she wanted him to kiss her, she would let him know, he was about to leave

"**He is leaving STOP HIM!**" Inner Sakura demanded, Sakura grabbed Naruto before he could leave and pressed her lips up against his and wrapped her arms around him, she wasn't going to let him go that easily

Naruto surprised at first began embracing the kiss as he pressed up against her lips, they were so soft, just like her skin, She pulled him inside and shut the door behind them, Naruto was even more surprised now, was she thinking about doing it on their first date?! He pushed her lips away from his for a second so he could speak "Sakura, what are you doing?"

"I don't want you to go, I had been afraid of the night ending because I didn't want to be separated from you, and I thought long and hard, and Naruto, there is no doubts in my mind any more, I love you…" Sakura said while blushing, she was putting her feelings, her heart in the open, hoping that Naruto would return them

"Sakura Chan…" Naruto was almost speechless "Sakura, I love you too, but are you sure about this? I mean it's our first date and…I don't want to ruin it"

"**Aww, isn't he cute, but he needs to shut up and do as he is told**" Said a grinning Inner Sakura, and Sakura kind of agreed with her "Naruto, Shut up and kiss me" She said while pressing her lips once more against his, she took his hand and lead him to her room

Meanwhile Shizune had reported back to Tsunade

"Are you sure?" She asked

"Yes Lady Hokage, there was no doubt, it's the Mizukage" Shizune said

"Where is he now?"

"I have a team of ANBU guarding him in one of the rooms of the hospital Lady Hokage"

"His condition?"

"When we found him, he was on the verge of death, but I was able to save his life, he should be conscious tomorrow, perhaps we will be able to get some answers out of him then"

"Damn right we need answers, Also have a team of ANBU sent to the mist village, just in case something happened"

"Right away Lady Hokage" She said before bowing and leaving

"I don't like this, not one bit" Tsunade said while staring out one of the windows of her room

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**End Chapter 10  
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For those of you that were hoping for a lemon there, sorry :P But this is still rated T ;) I still haven't decided to change it to M, maybe i will in the future, i don't know, lets see how the story turns out :P

Also, i want to explain why i focused so much time on Naruto and Sakura's relationship, it had to be done in order to create a plot in the future of the story, you will understand in time, but now that there relationship had reached the point i needed it to reach, look for all hell to break loose soon ;)


	11. Chapter 11

Alright, here is yet an other chapter, the plot has really advanced in this chapter, also there are new bleach characters, i am also using some of there powers from the series since its almost like chakara anyway ;)

well i am very happy to see new reviews, and like always, here are my responses :)

xzavx - Once again thank you for your review once more, although i plan on having her parents make an appearance, Sakura herself does not live with them, she owns that small house, that's why i mentioned that for her age she made a bit of money with all her connections ;) please keep reading and reviewing :)

Ymere - an other regular reviewer :) , yes it is a romance story, but also i do have a plot that in this chapter has advanced, i hope you enjoy reading it :D

naturokurosaki - Thank you for the review, i hope you keep enjoying the story

Sakuraangel1327 - LOL, i am seriously thinking about it, once again this chapter has a scene that i could have went further with, but due to the fact i haven't changed to M yet, i had to stop, i guess my reason for sticking with T for now is because i have never written a lemon before, and it may take me a while to muster up the courage, but i will try :)

shyguy1818 - Thanks , i hope you keep reading and enjoying the story, also keep reviewing

**Disclaimer – I still do not own Naruto, or Sakura, If i did, they would have gotten together much sooner in the series :P**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 11  


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Naruto was staring at Sakura; she was sleeping peacefully against his chest, he couldn't help but think about how beautiful she was, he could spend a life time just staring at her as she slept, he looked at the clock and it was just a few minutes passed 8, she slowly began to wake up "Good morning beautiful" He said with a smile

"Good morning handsome" She responded with a smile of her own as she leaned over to kiss him "How long have you been awake?"

"I never went to sleep; I spent the entire night just staring at a sleeping angel"

Sakura blushed a bit as she snuggled up against him, she was sad since she would have to eventually get out of bed, she had a shift at the hospital, and as much as she would want to just skip the day and spend it with Naruto, since Shizune was gone with Tsunade, she was the only one left running the hospital "As much as I hate to leave this bed right now, I need to take a shower and get ready to head to the hospital"

Naruto began to grin "Would you like some help in there?"

Sakura giggled as she threw a pillow at Naruto's face "**Yes, yes we do!!**" Inner screamed out "Why are you offering?" She answered him teasingly as she pulled him out of bed and pulled him towards the bathroom

Meanwhile Tsunade and Shizune were in a heavily guarded room "Lady Tsunade, I believe it is safe to try and wake him now"

"Alright, do it" She simply said

Shizune took out a needle filled with a liquid and slowly injected it into the unconscious Mizukage, then they waited a few seconds, slowly the man began to open his eyes "Where…Am...I?"

"Don't worry lord Mizukage, you are safe, and you are in a port city of the Fire Country" Tsunade explained

"Lady Hokage?" The man said puzzled "How did I get here?"

"Myself and a team of ANBU saw your boat drifting near the coast, when we went to investigate, we found the boat to be in bad shape and everyone on it dead except for you" Shizune answered

"You must tell us lord Mizukage, what happened?" Tsunade asked, wanting answers "We sent a team to the water country to investigate, but we haven't heard back from them yet"

"Then your team is more than likely dead" The Mizukage answered

"What? Why would your people attack them? We may not be allies but…"

"No, not my people, the invaders" he simply said

"Invaders?!" Shizune almost screamed out

"The land of the Water and the village hidden in the mist have fallen to invaders that came to us as friends"

"Who! Who did this to you?!" Tsunade demanded to know, however, she feared she already knew the answer

"Well, well, well, it seems a mouse got away, that's too bad, I was truly hoping to have more fun this time" An unknown voice came from the door way

Everyone turned around only to find the Kurokage standing in the door way

"YOU!" The Mizukage screamed while getting out of his bed

"It would appear Renji failed his task to kill you old man" The Kurokage said cockily

"I knew that you were trouble from the first moment I heard about you" Tsunade responded

"Now now lady Hokage, those are hurtful words, I really wanted to be your friend, I was hoping you would just lay down your weapons peacefully to avoid bloodshed" he said with a smirk

"You're kidding right?" Tsunade said in anger "We would never just lay for anyone!"

"Honestly, that's what I was hoping you would say"

"You're up against 2 Kage level opponents and many skilled ANBU ninjas, what makes you think you can win this battle?"

The Kurokage just smirked, suddenly 12 men and women wearing clothing similar to the Kurokage except with white cloaks over there black clothing, on each of their backs were numbered 2 threw 13, the Kurokage wore the number 1 "Meet my captains, they are more than enough to take on your so called ANBU" He said with a smirk

"Do not underestimate him or his men, they are much stronger then they appear" The Mizukage cautioned as he got up and stood beside Shizune and Tsunade ready to fight

"Rukia, Renji!" The Kurokage screamed out as 2 of his captains stepped forward

"Yes Kurokage Sama?" They both asked

"Renji, please finish what you started with that old man, Rukia, take the girl, leave the Hokage for me" He ordered

"Yes Kurokage Sama!" Rukia answered as she took out her katana

"I won't fail you again Kurokage Sama, this time, I won't let him get away!" Renji replied as he took out his own katana

"The rest of you, lead our men and take this city!" The rest of the captains disappear as Ichigo takes out his own katana "Shall we dance Lady Hokage? Let's see who is better"

Ichigo launched an attack that Tsunade blocked by quickly taking out a Kunai, but she was barely able to deflect the massive katana, she needed more room to move in, she looked at her 2 allies and they nodded, all 3 of them jumped out the window fallowed by their attackers

"You're not going to get away from me this time old man!"

"Who said I was running away?" He said as water began to surround him "Now that we are on an even playing field, I will make you pay for what you did to me and my homeland"

"I defeated you once, I can do it again, you survived because you ran like the coward that you are!"

"I didn't leave because I wanted too, I was injured and my loyal ANBU forced me to leave, but this time, you won't be able to attack me from behind while pretending to be friends!" He began to attack Renji with massive water attacks

Meanwhile Shizune had lured her pursuer into the nearby woods and taken out 2 Kunais in each hand while Rukia stood in front of her "I do not wish to harm you, if you would just lay down your weapons, then this can end peacefully" She said in a very calm voice

"You want me to surrender? Yeah right! You're the invader here! I will not lay down my weapon or bow down to you or your backstabbing Kage!" Shizune answered in anger

"As you wish" She simply answered as she attacked Shizune without warning, she was barely able to block the attack as Rukia was using her size and speed to her advantage "Your too slow" she said as she appeared behind Shizune and almost cut her head clean off, however she was able to duck just in time

"Damn she is fast, if I don't watch it, she will get me for sure" She began concentrating chakara into her hands, she intended on using the scalpel technique, she went on the attack however Rukia was able to dodge all her strikes easily, she suddenly pulled on a string that released multiple poisoned projectiles towards Rukia, she used her katana to block them with ease, however Shizune used that as a chance to launch her attack she was able to strike at one of her arms and legs causing Rukia to take a few steps back to get some distance between themselves

Shizune let out a smirk knowing that she had cut the tendons of both one of her arms and legs, meaning her speed would be drastically reduced

Rukia looked at her arm and leg, but she still showed no emotion as she got into a fighting position again "I will commend you on actually striking me, I apologize for toying around with you, I should have taken this fight more seriously, a mistake that I shall rectify right away" she suddenly vanished from Shizune's sight

"How can this be?! I know I cut the tendons, so why is she still able to move so fast!" Shizune thought to herself as she went on the defensive, Rukia suddenly appeared behind her, Shizune barely had the time to block with her kunai, but almost as fast as she had appeared behind her, she was now to her left, she moved her left hand to block just in time, with extreme speeds Rukia is now to her right, Shizune had no time to block the attack, she awaits for the blade to slice through her skin, it slashes her arm causing a massive injury as blood began to gush out and she screams in pain, she tries to get some distance between herself and Rukia, she took a look at her wound , it was deep but she did not reach the bone, Rukia had not moved from her position, the blood was still dripping from her blade and her face still depraved of any emotions

"It's time we finish this" Rukia said coldly as she raised her katana up in the air and held it sideways in front of her other hand "Blue flames of destruction, level 30!" she screams out as multiple blue balls of flames are making their way towards Shizune, she does her best to dodge them but a few of them hit her, burning her skin and clothing, she falls down in pain, Rukia appeared just above Shizune her Katana ready to strike, there is little she can do as the blade comes down for her neck, but suddenly massive blocks of wood envelop Shizune and the blade is stopped

Rukia jumps back expecting to be attacked by someone else, but no attack came, she lifts her hand in front of her once more "Way of destruction level 25" She screams out targeting the wooden shield, it explodes into pieces, but there is no longer anybody inside of it, She puts away her katana as she no longer sensed any presence around her area "It seems these people really are as coward as Renji claimed" she said as she looked at her injured arm and leg

Back in Konoha, Naruto and Sakura had both finished up there shower together and were now eating breakfast "So what are you going to do today Naruto?"

"Well I have a mission to complete" He answered

"What? I don't remember us getting any missions"

"Well I was asked to lead a small team for a patrol, I should be back by the time your shift is done" He said with a grin

"They are finally giving you a team?"

"Not really, I am just being put in charge of the mission since I am the only Junin on the team, the rest are chunin"

"Well I know you will do great" she said as she kissed his cheek and cleaned up the table "Once your done your patrol, come back here, I will cook us something nice for dinner tonight" She said with a grin

"I look forward to it Sakura Chan" he answered as he got up to leave, he was about to leave when Sakura stopped him

"You're not leaving without kissing me goodbye are you?" She asked as she wrapped her arms around him

"I wouldn't dream of it" he said as he held her tightly and kissed her passionately "Alright, as much as I hate to leave you, I have to go, I have to drop by my apartment to pick up my mission clothing then get my mission"

"I know, just be careful alright?" She said as he hugged him one last time

"Yeah, don't worry Sakura Chan, I will be back tonight" He said with his usual grin, he was finally able to bring himself to let go of her as he left the house, she just stood in the door way watching him walk away wanting to just run after him and join him on the mission, but she had responsibilities of her own, being the only medical chief the hospital has until Shizune comes back from her mission with Tsunade, all she can do is wait for Naruto to come back home, to which she grinned thinking about what she was going to do with him tonight

Naruto was running through the village heading towards his apartment, he was extremely happy, Sakura loved him, she loved him! He was on top of the world, floating on a cloud, He just wanted to get the mission over with and get back to her. He arrived at his apartment and changed back into his regular clothing, he attached his headband back around his head and then headed towards the fire tower where he would receive his orders and meet his team mates

Naruto arrived in the mission dispatch area of the fire tower, the elders were giving out various missions to other ninja's and teams, one of the elders saw Naruto walk in "Ah, Naruto, your team has been waiting for you"

"You're late Naruto Nii-San!" Sais a voice Naruto recognized right away

"Konohamaru?"

Konohamaru grinned at him, beside Konohamaru was another chunin, it was a girl that Naruto had never seen before, she had blonde hair and green eyes, and was just a bit shorter then Konohamaru

"These two will be your team on the mission" The elder said while handing Naruto the scroll consisting of his mission orders, Naruto nodded as he read the orders

"Understood" he said as he put the scroll into one of his pockets "Alright team, let's head out" Both Konohamaru and the girl nod as they leave for their patrol

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**End Chapter 11  
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I am not really good with fighting sceens, i can do them in my head, i have a great imagination, but when it comes putting it down on paper, i just get blocks :P so i hope the Shizune Rukia battle wasn't to bad


	12. Chapter 12

Alright, this i think is the biggest chapter so far, and its a major chapter, so i hope you all enjoy it, again read and review ;)

now for the part where i answer my awesome reviewers

naturokurosaki - Thanks for the review, yeah, the battle for Rukia VS Shizune was not the greatest and i apologize for it, i can only hope that the battle in this chapter was better, as for Ichigo being the villan, yeah, i love bleach, i really do, its my second favorit anime, right after Naruto :P and i though it would be fun to have them in here as the bad guys, so i hope you are enjoying it, and wether or not they are shinobi is a good question, i will answer with saying yes, they are shinibis, but not your average chakra weilding shinobis ;) i am making them diferent since they are from a far away land not yet known to us, as for picking him as the Kage, and his age? Yeah, Naruto and He are about the same age, but when a country pick's a Kage, its not the age they look at, its how good the person is, normally its always someone young, examples are, the 3erd Hokage was young when he got it, the 4th hokage was young when he got it, hell look at Garaa ;) so you can assume that Ichigo is a new Kage and finally, about the Beta, i duno, i will think about it, i never had anyone beta for my stories, and i don't know how much that would slow me down, i like to post and not make my awesome readers wait to long, as you can see, this story has me inspired to the point where i am posting multiple times a week!!

crsstlk - Thanks for the review, and REALLY?! I have not read the latest chapter, actually the last chapter i read had Konohamaru about to square off against some Akuski member, i have fallen behind, so shhh don't spoil it for me, but wow that makes me want to go and catch up!! and thank you very much for enjoying the story this much :) As fo Sasuke, don't worry, i have plans for him, i know we haven't seen him in a while, but he has a place in this story ;)

chickenman00712 - Thank you very much, i am happy that you are enjoying my work, so thanks and keep reading/reviewing

Alright, well that's all of them, so keep on reviewing guys, and enjoy the new chapter!!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 12**

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Tsunade and Ichigo stood in front of each other, they were both trying to measure each other up, though Ichigo was very confident in his ability, he knew that Tsunade would not be a pushover, he launched an attack against her with his Katana using his speed, but Tsunade did not try to evade, instead she stood right in the path of the blade, she concentrated her chakara into her hand and hit the blade as hard as she could at an angle where she could avoid the cutting edge, the resulting blow sent Ichigo flying back to the ground, he got back up slightly surprised at the amount of strength she had "You are much stronger then I first gave you credit for"

"Then perhaps you will reconsider attacking us?" She said with a grin, already knowing the answer

"Heh" He simply said as he grinned "It only makes things more interesting, I love a challenge!" He suddenly vanished from sight, Tsunade went into a defensive stance, looking around for him, suddenly he appeared to her left, she used her kunai to block, and with speed she pushes it out of the way and uses her free hand to strike a few locations on his body, he takes a few steps back as Tsunade grins

"This fight is already over" She said with confidence

"And what makes you think that?" he said as he tried to lift his blade back up, but to his surprise his foot moved making him lose balance as he fell to the ground

"Because, I just mixed up your nervous system"

"What?" he said in shock

"Your nervous system is essentially the power grid of your body, your brain sends signals that run through your body, like move right arm up, but I disrupted your nervous system, so instead of sending the signal to your right arm to go up, it may send the signal to your right leg to move forward, or your left foot to go backwards, there was only one person who could figure out how to fight back under these conditions, and the only reason that he was able to do so was because he knew just as much about medical Justus as I did" She said thinking back to her battle against Kabuto and how he was able to figure out a way to move all of his body parts after being hit by that move "But you on the other hand have no chance" She said as she walked up to him "I am sorry to have to do this, but I have the feeling you and your men won't back down" she said as she was about to give him a death blow

Suddenly a very young man stood in between Ichigo and Tsunade, he wore a white cloak with the number ten on it, indicating he was a captain, his hair was as white as snow and his eyes were of a teal color "Kurokage Sama, are you alright?" the boy asked calmly

"Hitsugaya, good timing, don't worry about me, she has just done something to my body, would you mind buying me some time while it wears off?"

"As you wish Kurokage Sama" He took out his Katana calmly, every move he made was with grace, there were no wasted motions, Tsunade wasn't sure what to make of the new arrival, he was only a kid, yet she knew that she had seen him in the line-up of captains when they appeared behind Ichigo before the battle began, and if he was a captain then it meant that this boy was no weakling "I know that you are strong, and since you the Hokage, I shall not insult you by toying around with you" He said with a very calm voice, for a kid, he was very mature, the total opposite of Naruto at that age Tsunade thought

Suddenly he went on the attack, his blade connecting with her kunais, but to her surprise, the kunai began to freeze she took a few steps back trying to get some distance between herself and the boy "What kind of ability is that" She wondered

"My katana's name is Hyorinmaru, meaning Frozen Ring" he answered her, almost as if he knew what she was thinking "I have many abilities, I could end this right now, but my duty is to only buy some time, that doesn't mean I will take it easy on you, like I said, I would not disrespect you in that way" He said, always keeping the same tone of voice, calm and collected

"This boy is dangerous, if only I had some fire jutsus to use" She thought as she looked at the melting ice off her kunai "I guess I should go on the offensive, it's my best chance" she thought and she went on the attack trying not to give him any chance to react, as she got near him, his facial expressions did not change, she launched her assault, trying to land a strike, but the boy was fast, nibble and agile, with little effort he dodge the attacks

"I am a captain of the thirteen protection squad, you are going to have to do better than that" he said as he launched an attack of his own, but to Tsunade's surprise, he used his fist and landed a few shots, how could this boy be so fast, she began to look around and noticed her ninja's were having similar problems, these people were extremely fast, but she couldn't give up, she began her attack again, using everything in her power to try and land a single punch, if she could hit him even just once, then perhaps she could slow him down a bit, but she would always miss by mere inches, that's when she grinned as she got an idea, instead of concentrating her chakara in her hands, she was going to extend it outside of her hands, finally she hit him, once, twice, three times, four five, he quickly jumped back to regroup himself, he felt blood dripping down his face "Now you are finally fighting me seriously" he said while wiping the blood off his face, in addition to his face, she had also cut parts of his arm and legs, but he seemed not too worried about it

"I will not allow you to win here"

Suddenly Hitsugaya felt someone tap his shoulder "Thanks Hitsugaya, but I will take it from here, I know it must have been hard for you to hold back, and you had to get those cuts because of it" Ichigo said as he had recovered from Tsunade's initial attack

"As you wish Kurokage Sama" he said bowing his head in respect and suddenly vanishes

"Now then, I may have underestimated you and your abilities, but don't think that while I was trapped by your last trick that I was just laying there, I studied you, watched you, you won't hit me with that move of yours again, I won't underestimate you again, and thus, I shall fight you with my full power" he said as he lifted his sword in the air "BAN-KAI!"

The winds began to pick up as a dust cloud surrounded Ichigo, when it cleared, he had transformed, his katana was now one quarter its original size and his clothing looked thorn up for some reason, Tsunade could not figure out what he had done, and his blade looked weaker, so how was that fighting her with his full power she though, but suddenly she felt a huge surge of power from the man in front of her

"I am the Kurokage of the Moon and Night country! BEHOLD MY POWER!" suddenly he vanished from sight, she could no longer sense his presence, suddenly she felt a sharp pain from her right arm and suddenly blood began to gush out, and again from her right arm, she then felt cold steel go through her body as she fell to her knees, she looked at her chest and there was now blood gushing out, and Ichigo appeared in front of her with a blood drenched blade "This fight is over, you are about to die"

"No, you cannot win!" she screamed out in pain

"You are fatally wounded, but don't worry, I will end it now"

"I am not done, not yet!" she said, and suddenly the diamond shape image on her forehead began to spread all over her body, and to Ichigo's surprise and amazement, her wounds were healing at extreme speeds, she stood back up "I am the Hokage of the leaf and the fire country! Now YOU behold my power!"

Ichigo grinned as he attacked her, he slashed her, pierced her, but no matter what he did, her wounds were healing up just as fast as he was inflicting them, he stopped wanting answers "What kind of power is this!"

"Creation Rebirth, over the years, I have stored up an enormous amount of chakara in my forehead, when released, I can use it to force my cells to regenerate at extreme speeds" she said with a grin, leaving out the part that cells can only multiply a certain amount of time during one's life time, and thus, the more wounds he inflicts on her and forces her body to regenerate, the shorter her lifespan became, she had already shaven a few years of her life against Orochimaru, she knew this battle would shave a few more "What that means is, you cannot kill me for as long as this is activated"

"Oh really now? Let's test that theory out then!" with lighting speed he attacked her, he cut her, her body was being shredded, blood was gushing out from everywhere, but her body was able to keep up with the healing, but Tsunade knew that she must had just lost 10 years of her life, she had to do something! And fast, she concentrated her chakara in her hand and slammed the ground, and since Ichigo was near her and stabbing her, it sent him flying through the air, he hit a tree and spat out blood from the impact, he couldn't believe it, she was right, she did not have a scratch on her body, and he was feeling his powers getting weaker, the more he used up his ban-kai, the more of his power it would drain, and if she could keep fighting like this indefinably, then eventually he would run out of power

"Do you now realize how futile it is to fight me?" She said with a grin, trying to sound confident, knowing that her body would not be able to take much more of those kinds of attacks

"I will admit, you are much more powerful then that weak feeble old man, the Mizukage, you are indeed worth fighting" he said as he turned his head to see Renji dealing a finishing blow to the Mizukage, piercing his chest with his katana ending the man's life, Tsunade looked in the same direction and was shocked by what she saw, the Mizukage had been killed, she couldn't allow herself to fall "But even you must have a weakness, I am sure that you have noticed your ninja's are all going down one by one, so time is not on your side" he said with a grin "Hitsugaya already told you the name of his katana, I don't believe that I have introduced you to mine yet, its name is Zangetsu ,literally meaning cutting moon, it's a very special and powerful blade, we make perfect partners"

"You're talking as if there alive"

"Alive, well not literally, but I guess you could say that, these Katana's are an extension of our souls, we are connected to them, we draw our power from them, when my people graduate from the Academy, we are not only given our headbands but our katana as well, however, we are not the ones who chose them, they chose us"

"So you have a deep connection with your blades, I still don't understand what's so special about them"

"Each blade has its own special power, I am sure you noticed that Hitsugaya's blade had ice elements inside of it, however you have not even seen the true power of his blade, but my point is that, my blade also has its own powers, and I am about to show one of them to you" he said with a grin, he jumped back to get some distance between himself and Tsunade, he lifted his blade In the air and swung it down screaming out at the same time "Getsuga!"

To Tsunade's surprise, a huge beam of light was heading towards her, she barely had the chance to get out of the way, with all her power she jumped out of the way, when she got up, she felt something was wrong, or missing, she looked at her left arm, it was gone! Her body has already begun healing the wound so the blood would stop gushing out, but there was no way it could reconstruct her entire arm

"It's nice to see your body has a limit to what it can heal" he said with a grin, satisfied with the result, even if she was able to jump out of the way, there was no way she could continue fighting for long in that condition

Suddenly Yamato and Shizune jumped in between them "HOKAGE SAMA!" Shizune screamed out in horror as the sight of her leader and friend

"We have got to get her out of here, we lost this battle Shizune, but we must warn the village so we can begin a counter strike" he said while doing hand sighs, suddenly big logs of wood envelope the 3 of them and the ground swallows them all

"What? Where did they go?! FIND THEM!!" Ichigo demanded as he looked around at his victorious forces that had just finished off the rest of the leaf's forces

They appeared a few kilometres away from the now occupied port town, Yamato had Tsunade in his arms, suddenly she tells him to stop and put her down, they jump down from the trees and he lays her down

"Is there something wrong Hokage Sama?" he asked, he had noticed that the diamond had yet to retract to its dormant state, and that the seal was glowing, even Shizune had never seen that before

"It's over, I am at my limit" She simply said

"What are you talking about Hokage Sama?" Shizune asked

"My cells have reached their limit, my life is coming to an end, I will die within the next few moments"

"NO!! I am a medical Ninja, there has to be something I can do!!" Shizune screamed out in tears while Yamato was standing beside Tsunade in silence

"Shizune, we both know that no one, not even I can reverse cell regeneration, if I could then no one would ever need to get old" she said trying to smile, but all she could do was cough out some blood "I want you to listen to my final requests"

Yamato nodded and Shizune had tears rolling down her cheeks, the pain from her wounds were long forgotten

She handed them 2 scrolls "I want you to deliver these scrolls, one of them is who I pick to be the next Hokage, give them to the council members so they can begin the ceremony, the other scroll is for Naruto, it tells him the truth about his family, his origin, and an apology from me for not telling him sooner" she said once more coughing out blood "finally, Shizune, don't give up the hospital, it will need you now more than ever, continue to teach Sakura the things I did not have the time to finish, and make sure she knows that I am very proud of her, proud to have her as my apprentice, also tell her to take good care of Naruto, that boy was like a son to me, he deserves to be happy, and so does she for that matter, and finally Yamato my boy, take good care of yourself and Shizune, make sure she gets back home safely, and protect her always, I know you will do it because you have been doing it ever since you were kids" she said with a smile as both of them blushed at the comment she finally coughed out more blood and slowly shut her eyes, the diamond seal finally vanished, and disappeared, and lastly, her heart stoped beating

"NO!! WHY DID SHE HAVE TO DIE?!" Shizune screamed in sadness and anger

"We have to move Shizune, I will carry her home to make sure she gets a proper burial, but we can't stay here, they must be tracking us by now" Yamato said while picking up the now deceased Tsunade with a small tear running down his eye, Shizune simply nodded in agreement and they both jumped back onto the branch and continued on their way towards Konoha

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Alright, its a sad ending to the chapter i know :( however i REALLY REALLY hope the fight was better in this one, i tried hard to make it exciting, thanks for reading and once more, REVIEW :D


	13. Chapter 13

Unfortunatly during one of my edits, i replaced the wrong chapter and ended up erasing chapter 13, now i had a backup of the chapter itself, but not of my responses to everyone the reviews, i am sorry :(

to everyone else who is reading this for the first time "or rereading it :P" enjoy the chapter

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 13**

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Naruto was sitting in a tree eating an apple as he watched his squad square off against a group of bandits that had stolen cattle and other supplies from a nearby farm

"**FLASHBACK**"

_"This is sooo boring Naruto Nii-San, what are we suppose to do?!" Konohamaru asked_

"This is a patrol mission Konohamaru, we are just suppose to patrol and make sure everything is alright in this region" He answered

"But I want to go fight! This is my first mission as a chunin, I thought they would get more interesting and dangerous"

"Well, we could always go hunt down that poor cat, I am sure that she has scared the poor thing away again" Naruto said with a grin

"Oh hell no!! I have seen enough of that cat!!" Konohamaru quickly responded

"Aww, but I felt sorry for that poor thing, I could see why it wanted to run away" the girl added remembering how the fire empress would love it to death, literally

Suddenly something caught Naruto's eye and he told them to stop, they all jump onto the ground from the tree's and Naruto finds a small girl crying "Hey, are you alright little girl?"

She continued to cry as she looked up at Naruto "Some mean men stole my daddy's cattle and our food, and they even took my dolly!" she cried as tears rolled down her checks, it broke Naruto's heart

"Don't worry, we will get them back for you, right team?"

"Yes sir!" Konohamaru and the girl answered in unison

"**END FLASHBACK**"

"You little brats think that you can fight us? You're nothing more but kids!!" One of the bandits told them "Run home before you guys get yourselves hurt"

"Heh, you think you're tough just because you can steal from people who are weaker then yourselves, its people like you who make me sick!" The girl said in anger, Naruto had since learned that her name was Talho Yuki, and she was very spirited and voiced her opinions

"You said it Yuki Chan!" Konohamaru said in agreement with his team mate "And we are Konoha Ninja's, we are more than a match for scum like you!" He added, there was no way he was going to back down, not while Naruto was watching them, hidden away just in case they needed his help, but he wanted to prove that they could do it without him

"Why you little runt!" One of the bandits launched an attack against Konohamaru trying to lend a punch on him, but Konohamaru grabbed his arm and kicked the man's ribs with force

"Wow, you guys are even weaker then I first though, we won't even need to use chakara against these idiots" He said while grinning, 3 of them ran and grabbed Yuki, 2 of them had grabbed both of her arms while the other had a knife to her throat

"We warned you kids not to screw around with us, now you're going to have to suffer the consequences" the man said as he licked the side of her cheek "You're a cute girl, we are going to enjoy this" the man holding the knife said with an evil grin

"Oh no, Konohamaru Kun, they have me, please save me, they are going to hurt me!" she screamed out, Konohamaru had frozen, he didn't know what to do, and he couldn't figure out how she got cough so easily, Naruto had gotten to his feet on top of the branch and was about to jump in and save her, but he stopped when he saw her screams turn into a grin "Just kidding" she said as her grin got wider, she used her head to hit one of the men's face that was holding her and lifted one of her legs up to hit the other one holding her other arm, she then grabbed the man holding the knife by the arm and threw him to the ground, she kicked him in the face and then in the groins "You're never going to get your hands on me" She said in anger

Konohamaru was in a bit of awe at his team mate, she had taken out 3 of them with ease "Did you have to scare me like that?!" Konohamaru asked her

"Aww Konohamaru Kun, were you worried about my safety?" she asked with a wink

Out of nowhere a large ball of flames was heading towards them, they didn't have the time they needed to react, they were getting ready to get burnt, but all they heard was a large explosion and smoke, when Konohamaru opened his eyes he couldn't see anything, as the smoke slowly dissipated and they saw Naruto holding a 5th bandit that they had not noticed until now

"You two let your guard down, what would have happened had I not intervened?" He said while throwing the now unconscious thug to the ground

"We are sorry Naruto Nii-San! We didn't think any of them had the ability to wield chakara…"

"Never, and I mean NEVER underestimate your enemies"

Yuki and Konohamaru looked at the ground, they were a shame of themselves for letting Naruto down "We are sorry Naruto Sensei" Yuki finally said

"Yuki, I am not your Sensei, I am just in charge of this mission" He said sternly, but he felt horrible, he knew that they were just excited about fighting and trying to prove themselves to him "But good job guys, you did great, I was seriously impressed with you Yuki, you may have overdid it a bit with the theatrical, but you both got out of it unhurt" he said with a grin "Now let's tie these bastards up and show them the hospitality of Konoha's finest 5 star prisons"

"Yes sir!" they both answered as they began to tie up the bandits and round up the cattle and supplies so they could bring them back to the farmers

"Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me and my family" The happy farmer said as he spoke with Naruto

"No problem, these thugs were no match for my team, they won't be bothering you any time soon"

"Thank you mister!!" A little girl said with a big smile, Naruto bent down and took something out of his pouch and handed it to the girl, her eyes widen as she held her doll, she hugged and kissed Naruto on the cheek "Wow you got my dolly back!! Thank you so much" The girl said trying not to blush but not being very successful

"Why does he get the kiss, we did most of the fighting" Konohamaru said in the background

"Aww Konohamaru Kun, are you jealous? Do you want ME to kiss you?" She said teasingly, it only made Konohamaru blush wildly, and it only increased her grin

Naruto turned around wondering what was going on, Konohamaru was almost as red as a tomato, and here Yuki was, grinning from ear to ear, he had missed something, that he was sure of "Alright team, lets head back home"

The team had returned to Konoha as the sun was starting to set, they had tied the 5 bandits in a line, Naruto lead the front while Yuki and Konohamaru guarded the rear, Naruto wanted to hurry back home and return to his beloved Sakura who was making them dinner tonight, just the thought of her home cooking brought drool to his mouth

"Naruto Nii-San is day dreaming of Sakura Chan again" Konohamaru said teasingly, but Naruto had not heard him

"Who is this Sakura?" Yuki asked a bit curious

"She is Naruto Nii-San's girlfriend" He said with a grin, but to his surprise Yuki looked upset "Why do you ask?" he wondered

"No reason!" she said trying to look away from Konohamaru

"OHH I get It, you have a crush on him don't you!" he said teasingly, it was his chance at revenge for what she did to him earlier

"What? No of course I don't!! Why would you say such a stupid thing?!" She said while punching him as hard as she could and then looked away so Konohamaru could not see her blush

He rubbed his arm as his grin got wider "Yuki chan likes Naruto Nii-San!" he kept on teasing her, it only made her angrier with him

Naruto had noticed the commotion behind him "What's going on back there?" He asked while turning his head to look

"Oh nothing Naruto Sensei" Yuki answered with an innocent smile "right Konohamaru Kun?"

"Yeah…Nothing Naruto Nii-San" Konohamaru responded with a huge lump on the back of his head and aching ribs

Kiba and Neji were manning the gate, Kiba was sitting with his legs on the small desk they had at the gate while Neji was meditating in silence, Kiba had learned that it was best not to disturb him, but it sure made things boring for him, he wondered why he was always stuck on gate duty while Naruto got all the exciting missions "If they're going to stick me on this boring guard duty, the least they could do is give me Hinata as a partner" He thought to himself

Naruto was nearing the gate and Noticed Kiba sitting at the desk "Hey Kiba, Aren't you suppose to be guarding the gate? Not sitting around" Naruto said with a grin teasing his friend

"Yeah, yeah, I see you had another interesting mission" He said as he looked at the 5 prisoners

"Yeah, they were causing trouble in the country"

"Heh, well at least it was more exciting than sitting here all day" Kiba responded while some ANBU came to take away the thugs

"Well as much as I love chatting with you Kiba, I need to give my report for the mission, then Sakura has a nice home cooked meal waiting for me" He said with a grin

"Alright then, hey we should do something together soon, we haven't hung out in a while, we could get the old teams seven, eight and ten back together"

"Yeah, sounds like fun, I will talk to the others about it" Naruto simply responded as he continued to walk towards the fire tower, followed by his members Konohamaru and Yuki

Naruto and his team were being debriefed by his old sensei and school teacher, Iruka on their mission "So you allowed your team to fight alone?"

"Yes, they were more than capable of handling themselves against those bandits; I was also on the lookout in case they had a hidden surprise, which they did"

"Well I guess you and your team did good, Naruto, you should seriously consider taking on a team of your own, you are after all a Junin" Iruka asked him

"I don't know, I mean I would make a horrible squad leader"

"That's not true Naruto Sensei!" Yuki spoke out, it also surprised Iruka a bit that she had called him Sensei; he remembered her being a defiant student in class

"She is right Naruto Nii-San! You're selling yourself short" Konohamaru added

Naruto was a bit embarrassed as Iruka smiled "What do you say Naruto? It would be better for you during your missions if you had a regular team as well" Iruka added

"I don't know…" Naruto sounded unsure

"Well how about we make Konohamaru and Yuki apart of your team since they have not been assigned to a team yet and let's see, you could use a medical Nin" he said as he looked through the files of medical ninja's available to join a team "Ah yes, she is also new to the chunin rank, but is a great healer as well as a ninja, Hyuga Hanabi, how does that sound?" He asked with a smile

"Are you sure about this? I mean really you do remember who I am right? Naruto? The irresponsible idiot ninja?" Naruto asked, not too sure about the confidence Iruka seemed to have in his abilities to lead

"Of course I am sure Naruto, I have seen you grow up from the day you entered the academy, to the day you attained the rank of Junin, you have earned this Naruto, so I once again ask, do you accept?"

"Yes, I accept" Naruto said proudly, even though he still had his own doubts

"As of Today, Team Naruto has been founded, with Konohamaru, Yuki and Hanabi" Iruka said with a smile

"Don't you need to first get the Hokage to accept it?" Naruto suddenly thought

"Actually, she is the one who suggested you get your own team, she said if you would ever consider leading, you could get whoever you wanted" He said with a grin

"This is great Naruto Nii-San!! Now I get to be on your team and learn from the best!" He said with a grin

"Yeah! Naruto Sensei, I am honoured to be a part of your team" she said with a slight blush, one that Konohamaru had noticed but said nothing, remembering the lumps on his head

"Well I need to go now Iruka Sensei, Sakura made dinner for us tonight, and I can't keep her waiting" he said with a grin

Iruka smiled, he was happy that Naruto and Sakura were getting on well together, he thought that Naruto deserved to be happy

"Alright team, we will assemble tomorrow so we can get to know each other more and perhaps do a little bit of training, Konohamaru, would you mind passing along the message to Hanabi?" Naruto asked

"Of course Naruto Nii-san" He answered

"You should call him Naruto Sensei!" Yuki scolded him

"Technically, you don't have too, after all it's not like your genins…" Naruto said while scratching the back of his head

"Yeah, plus he is my Nii-San!! So I can call him that! Right Naruto Nii-San?!" Konohamaru looked at him with a grin

"Of course Konohamaru"

"Yeah well, I am going to show him the proper respect that he deserves as our team leader!" She responded sticking out her tongue at Konohamaru

"…What have I gotten myself into?" Naruto thought to himself, but then he remembered that Sakura was waiting for him at home and suddenly he vanished in a cloud of smoke

"See, your disrespect made him run off on us!!" Yuki said

"Heh, shows how much you know about him, he ran off on us because he has Sakura waiting for him to come back home" He said grinning, knowing it would annoy her

"Yeah well, whatever!" Yuki said with a pout

Meanwhile at the Gate Kiba was getting bored again, but his shift was almost over, he was happy because he had asked Hinata to join him for dinner, and she actually said yes, suddenly he saw Shikamaru and Tenten walk up towards them "Hey Shikamaru, good to see you, you're here to relieve us?"

"Yeah" He simply said

"Perfect, well you guys have fun" Kiba said as he was about to leave

Suddenly Neji opened his eyes "Someone is coming…"

Kiba sniffed the air a bit "Yeah, I smell blood…"

"Look there are 2 people coming, wait one of them is carrying someone" Tenten said

The two unknown ran into the light, and to their horror, they saw Shizune with multiple wounds, but they were not half as shocked as they were when they saw Yamato, carrying Tsunade, and she seemed to be motionless

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	14. Chapter 14

Here is yet an other chapter released, i would like to once again, thanks my reviewers, i cannot thank you enough for giving me the support and motivation i need to keep this story going :), now for my 1 on 1 with my reviewers :D

chickenman00712 - I hope you get into this chapter almost as well as you did the last one :) as for the Hokage, it is revealed in this chapter :P

RSfan - LOL too funny, you made my day when i read that lol, yes, i wanted something different for Naruto other then training genins, and considering this is 5 years after Sasuke runs off from Konoha, making Naruto 19 years old, it makes Konohamaru about 15 and Hanabi about 14, so they are just the right age for Chunin, so it worked out :D, also, there is indeed "fluff" between Naruto and Sakura before they find out the horrible news

Ymere - I understand your concerns, but trust me when i say that this is not going to be a "bleach" story :P and right now they are strong yes, but it is because that they have never faced an enemy like them before, Naruto is not going to be a weakling, but he isn't going to just beat them in a snap of a finger either, i have seen these stories where Naruto is like superman and he beats the enemies as if they were paper targets, it just makes for a boring story :P that being said, there is no problem that needs to be fix :D however i thank you for your concerns, but just trust in me and you won't be dissapointed ;)

naru-ca-titan - Thanks, i am happy to know that you liked my story enough to put me on your favs, i hope you keep on reading :)

crsstlk - Thanks for the review, yes, i kind of always though those 2 would make a cute couple, Yamato and Shizune are cool :D And yeah, i heard the rumors about Shizune's fate :( i will need to catch up on it this weekend, i will set aside some time to read them, and as for Naruto and Sakura, well you get to see plenty of them in this one ;) Probably not as much as some people would ike to see lol "hints at the people who are demanding M rating :P"

xzavx x2 - Once more, i can always count on you to review all my chapters :P So i thank you for both the reviews, also yes, it was sad to see Tsunade die, but not everyone can servive in a war :(

Thank you all for your reviews, i look forward to reading the next reviews you guys will add for this chapter thanks again

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 14**

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They continued eating and talking about their day until the moon was shinning brightly in the sky, Sakura was staring at Naruto's blue eyes and he was content with staring into her emerald green eyes "**Enough of this! You know what to do now!**" Inner Sakura said with a grin "Naruto Kun is ours now!" Sakura responded to her Inner self as they nodded, grinned and agreed with each other, Sakura began to grin at Naruto and took his hand into her own and pulled him out of his chair, she kissed him passionately, to which he did not protest as he kissed her back and held her tightly, she pulled away and bit and grinned at him as she pulled him towards her bedroom, he went without a fight

The atmosphere was very different in the fire tower's council room, Shizune and Yamato stood in front of the council members with battle wounds all over them, Tsunade had been brought to the hospital, but no one other than an ANBU squad were allowed in the room, they didn't want word to get out that the Hokage had been killed, at least not until they could prepare for it

The council members were very disturbed by the news that the both of them had brought back, one of the councilmen stood up and spoke "This is disturbing indeed, for them to be powerful enough to not only take out some of our strongest ANBU ninja's but to also defeat the Mizukage and our Hokage as well, how will the village take this news" the old man said, his name was Homura Mitokado

"to lose another Hokage before the war even begins will be devastating for our moral, but we must prepare for the upcoming battle, we must chose the next Hokage, and quick" the old council women responded, her name was Koharu Utatane

Both of them were the oldest council members of Konoha, they had both seen the first, second, third, fourth and fifth Hokage's come into office and die for Konoha, and they were about to witness the sixth Hokage come into power "But who?" One of the Hyuga elders asked

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the council, if I may speak" Shizune stepped up, the council leader nodded his head to let her know she could continue "Before she died, she gave us her last requests, one of those requests is who she had chosen to be her replacement, and as per tradition, her wishes should be respected as the prior Hokage has the right to pick their successor" she said trying to sound confident in front of the council members

"And who is this person who she wishes to take her place?" Mitokado asked as they waited for the answer

"She did not tell me personally, though I have an idea of who it is, she handed me this scroll, and I did not want to disrespect her by opening it" Shizune said as she handed them the scroll before bowing her head at the council

Utatane opened the scroll, her eyes widened as she read the name "Namikaze…Naruto" she finally said out loud the entire council began to whisper with each other, Shizune could tell they did not approve of Naruto being picked as the sixth Hokage

"How can we allow the demon child to become the Hokage?" One of the council members finally spoke out

"How can you still call him the demon child after everything he has done for the village? Even after the way the people has treated him, he still risks his life time after time for us!" Yamato screamed out in anger, to which the council and Shizune were surprised, Yamato was not the type to have bursts of emotions like that

"He is right, Naruto is a Namikaze, the fourth Hokage's legacy, you cannot just brush him off because he was cursed with the demon fox spirit being locked away inside of him, it's not like it was his choice!" Shizune joined Yamato in defiance of what the council member had said

"What if he decides he wants revenge on the people who treated him badly during his youth?" The council member responded back, but Shizune did not have the time to respond as Mitokado got up

"Silence everyone!" he demanded "We cannot ignore the fifth Hokage's request, nor can we ignore how much we owe Naruto for all that he has done despite the way he was treated, we cannot also ignore his heritage, he is indeed a Namikaze, whether this council wants to admit it or not, he is the fourth Hokage's son and legacy, the fourth Hokage gave up his life for our village, and risked his own sons life in the process, is this the way you all wish to repay this dept we owe him? And is this any way to respect the fifth's own wishes?" He said surprising more than half the council and Shizune and Yamato in the process "As council leader, he has my support"

The whispers had started up again as Utatane stood up and spoke "I am in agreement with Mitokado, there was a time when I would have agreed with some of you, but I have seen Naruto grow into the man that he is today, I even wanted him to be locked up so Akastsuki could not get the power of the Kyuubi, it was the fifth who told me I had to start trusting more in his abilities, and she was right, in the end, he was a huge part of defeating them, he has done more than most people in this village has ever done for Konoha, he deserves the chance to prove himself"

The other council members began standing one by one giving their approval, Shizune began to smile as even the council member who had spoken up against Naruto was now agreeing, though she could tell he was still unhappy

"Then it is decided, he shall become the sixth Hokage of the leaf" Mitokado said "We should inform him as soon as possible and get the ceremony underway so that we can begin planning for the war, I don't think these moon ninja's are going to give us much time to grieve for our fallen leader"

Shizune and Yamato nodded as they began to walk out of the council chambers "I can't believe that they agreed, those two would have been the last people who I would have thought would endorse Naruto" Shizune said as they made their way towards the fire tower's exit

"Yeah, but it's hard to believe, Naruto is now the sixth Hokage, well I guess we should go find him" Yamato responded as they began heading towards Naruto's apartment, but when they arrived, they couldn't find him "Where could he be?" He asked

"he could be anywhere's, lets split up, we can cover more ground faster" She suggested

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Yamato asked with a look of concern on his face as he looked at her wounds "Maybe you should go to the hospital, heal up and rest, leave finding Naruto to me" he said with some concern in his voice

"No" she simply said

"No?" He asked

"No, Tsunade…Lady Hokage also wanted me to deliver this scroll to him on her behalf, and I intend on doing it" She said

"But you can still do it after I find him, I am only concern for your wounds" He responded

"I said NO, I am fine, you concentrate on the south end of the city, I will take the north" and without allowing him to respond, or try to convince her to stop, she jump away from building to building

He sighed as he began doing the same, he also began thinking where he could be, where did Naruto hang out a lot? It wasn't going to be at Ichiraku, because that was closed, he didn't think that Naruto would be training at this time of night, that's when he stopped "He couldn't be there could he?" He asked himself "It's worth a shot I guess" He began heading towards Sakura's house

Meanwhile Shizune was having no luck finding him, she had even checked with everyone from the rookie nine squad, well except for Sakura because her house was on Yamato's side, as well as team Gai, but no one had seen him since he had returned from his mission, she then saw Konohamaru walking down the street with Yuki, she jumped down in front of them, Yuki suddenly went into a defensive position not knowing who Shizune was

"She's a friend, don't worry" Konohamaru told Yuki to calm her down

"Konohamaru, what are you doing out so late?" She asked

"Well you see, me and Yuki were kind of celebrating" He said trying to hide a blush

"Celebrating what?" she asked

"We celebrated being a part of Naruto Sensei's team!" Yuki said with pride

"Naruto Sensei?" she asked

"Naruto Nii-San is now a squad leader, myself, Yuki and Hanabi were all made part of the team" Konohamaru said with a smile and a hint of pride of his own

"That's great news" She said, but wondered if Naruto would be able to keep a team going once he became Hokage "Would you happen to know where Naruto is?"

"Actually, I have a good idea where he could be" Konohamaru said with a grin creeping onto his face, one that Yuki didn't like

"Where is he? It's kind of an emergency" Shizune asked

"Well, if you ask me, he is probably at Sakura's, he said she had dinner made for them, and well, if he didn't return to his place, he is probably still there" Konohamaru answered, and Yuki was upset, she did not approve their sensei going out with a slut, even if she had never met this Sakura, she had to be one because she was just not good enough for her sensei

"Thank you Konohamaru, now hurry home, I know you can take care of yourselves, but it's still not safe for you and a young girl to be walking alone on the streets at night" And without giving Yuki time to respond to what she considered an insult to her abilities to defend herself, Shizune quickly jumped back onto the roofs and made her way to Sakura's house

Yamato was laying down on a tree branch with his back against the trunk near Sakura's house, he spotted Shizune heading towards it "Shizune, come here" He said trying to get her attention, she saw him and was confused a bit

"Yamato? What are you doing up there, Have you found Naruto?"

"Yeah, He is in Sakura's house" He simply answered

"Then what are you doing out here? Come on let's go talk to him" She said while starting to walk towards the house, but Yamato jumped in her path

"No, not right now…" He said trying to fight off a blush

"What do you mean not right now? We don't have any time to lose with your games Yamato" she said slightly annoyed

"This isn't a game, but we should not disturb them right now…"

"What why?!" she asked slightly confused

"Let's just say that those two have, how should I put this, opened up to each other, and now is REALLY not the time to disturb them…" he said while losing the battle for the blush

"Wait….you're not saying that they are"

He simply nodded to confirm her thoughts; suddenly she got angry at him

"YOU SAW THEM?!"

"NO NO OF COURSE NOT!! But well I knocked at the door and no one answered, so I went around the back and I guess I must have went near the bedroom because I began hearing… so I left and hid in the tree, that's when you arrived, I swear I didn't do any peeking!!" He said trying not to be embarrassed about the situation he was put in

Shizune sighed "I guess you're right, it would be wrong to ruin their night with his horrible news, we will tell them first thing tomorrow morning" She simply said "Want to accompany me to the hospital then?" She asked with a smile

"I made a promise to the Hokage to protect you always, and It was you who said even if you can take care of yourself, it's dangerous for a young girl to be walking alone at night on the streets"

"Wait, Yamato, did you have one of your shadow clones fallow me around!!" She said remembering what she had told Konohamaru and Yuki

"Uh…I will scout ahead" He said while running away heading towards the hospital

"YAMATO GET BACK HERE" She said while chasing after him

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**End Chapter 14  
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Well i know it was kind of predictable to see Naruto become the next hokage, and its been done in countless other stories, i know, but trust me when i say, things are not going to turn out the way you think they will :)


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 is now out, i believe this is my biggest chapter to date with over 3100 words "before the my author notes :P" well here comes my favorite part, responding to my loyal reviewers :)

chickenman00712 - I thank you again for the review, and can only hope that you are once again drawn into the story as much as you have been for the past chapters :D

naturokurosaki - Thanks for the review, and yeah, there will be some twists to the story, although they are not planned for a few chapters :P

naru-ca-titan - you need not wait no more :P Chapter 15 has arrived , yay ;) and i am very happy that you are enjoying it :D

crsstlk - Wow, that's the first thing that comes to mind after reading that review, i am honored to have such a dedicated fan, i can only hope that this next chapter is also worth you staying up late to read :P but seriously, i really hope you like this new chapter as much as theo thers :)

Ymere - thanks for the review, for the angsty part, no worries on that :P

RSfan - Thanks for the review, i may give away a very small bit of the story by saying this, but it won't spoil anything, i don't plan on disbanding team Naruto after he becomes Hokage :), Team Naruto is too awesome ;)

**EDIT - I forgot to respond to a review**

Ymere - I had responded to your review but somehow it got lost when i released the public version, for this i am sorry, i did not forget you, i just don't know what happened to my responce :/ anyway don't worry about the story getting angsty :P I thank you for the review, and once again apologise for somehow forgeting to put it in my final draft of the story

Well that's all for the reviews, so keep them coming :D

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 15**

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Naruto was sleeping soundly with Sakura snuggled up against him; she was slowly beginning to wake up "**He is so HOT!! Even with those whiskers**" Inner said with a grin as Sakura stared at Naruto as he slept, she was happy because she had the day off, meaning she could spend it with Naruto, she was even thinking about going with him to meet his team if he didn't mind

Naruto began to wake up himself as he turned his head to look at his beautiful Sakura "Good morning" he told her with a smile "You look beautiful this morning" he then said with a grin, Sakura shoved a pillow in his face playfully

"Oh shut up, my hair is a mess!!" she said with a giggle

"Well we could take another shower, I could wash them for you" he said with a growing grin

"You just want to get me naked again don't you!" She said with a grin

"Uh Sakura, I don't really have to get you naked, your already are naked" he said with a wink, Sakura had decided to start to play fight with him and ended up on top of him, he decided to wrap his arms around her and pulled her down onto him, he then rolled her over until he was on top and pinned down her arms "Naughty girl" he said with a grin

"Aww Naruto your being mean" she said with a sad face, Naruto felt bad and let go of her arms, suddenly she grinned "HA!" She pushed him off, he was going to fall out of the bed but he grabbed her arm and pulled her down with him as the blanket fell on top of them, they were both laughing "Naruto, I don't think that I have ever been this happy in my entire life" she said with a smile

"Me either Sakura Chan, you are the only one that I could ever love" He said as he hugged her

"Aww Naruto, I don't think I could love any other man then you" she said as she hugged him back "So, do you still want to wash my hair?" she said with a grin

"Of course" He said with as his own grin return before they got up from the ground and both headed towards the bathroom

Meanwhile Yuki was eating her breakfast as her mom stepped into the kitchen "You're up early dear" she asked her daughter as she began to make some coffee for herself

"Today I get together with my team for the first time" She said in a happy tone

"Oh really? You were made part of a team? That's great, so who is in your team?"

"Hyuga Hanabi, Konohamaru Kun and myself, oh and our team leader is Uzumaki Naruto Sensei" she said happily

"Naruto? So he has finally taken a team, well I am very happy that you are a part of his team, that way I know you will be safe" she said to her daughter

"Yeah, Sensei is really strong, I studied his file, mom, did you know he saved the village like over three times? And the first time he was younger than me!!"

"Ah yes, I remember the sand and sound invasion, it was a sad day, you were only starting the academy back then"

"Well I got to go mom, Konohamaru wants us to meet up with Hanabi before we head out to meet Naruto Sensei" she said as she put the dishes in the sink

"Alright dear, be careful"

"Yeah, yeah mom, you worry too much" she said as she walked outside, Konohamaru was already waiting for her

"Hey Yuki Chan, ready to go?" he asked her with a smile

"Yeah, I can't wait to see Naruto Sensei again, do you think he will train us today?" she asked all excited

"I don't know, only one way to find out" He said while they began to walk toward the Hyuga compound

Naruto and Sakura were done there showers and had begun eating breakfast, Sakura had made them pancakes and toasts "This is great Sakura Chan, you are really spoiling me" He said as he ate up

"Your worth being spoiled" She said with a grin as she ate as well "Naruto, I have the day off from the hospital today, I know you're going to meet up with your team, would you mind if I tagged along? I would love to see them" She asked

"Sure, maybe you can help me train them a bit" He said smiling at her

"Really? That would be fun, but are you sure; you are their sensei after all"

"Bah, they will love you, I am sure of it, who wouldn't" he said with a grin as he finished up his plate and drank up his glass of milk, he then got up and put the dishes in the sink and Sakura did the same "I will help you clean these up, then we can head out" Sakura washed the dishes while Naruto dried them, they only had a few to do so they were done quickly. Once finished they both headed out the door as Sakura held onto Naruto's hand

Yamato had just dodged a flying book as Shizune shouted at him "WHY DID YOU NOT WAKE ME SOONER!! LOOK AT THE TIME!!" she said in anger

"But you were tired…I couldn't bring myself to wake you, and what are a few hours, the news will be the same whether it's at 6 AM or 10 AM" he said while dodging an unidentified flying object

"That's no excuse!! I told you to wake me up early!!" she said while starting to calm down, she had also realize that some of the hospital staff had begun staring at them, they had slept there over night since they were too tired to head back home "What are you all looking at, you all have your jobs to do don't you?!" the staff quickly begun to scatter, Shizune was the Chief medical doctor in charge of the hospital after all "Alright Yamato, let's go break the news to those poor kids" she said referring to Naruto and Sakura

They were both walking in the streets of Konoha, the village was buzzing with activity, Shizune felt sorry because she knew their lives were about to change, soon the merchants would be replaced with security patrols and security checkpoints, and instead of importing furniture and other commodities, there chief import will become weapons, there would be many mothers that would lose their loved ones as casualties of war, she didn't want to think about it, but it was hard to deny the reality of war, and these people had no idea it was coming

They finally arrived at Sakura's house, Shizune took a deep breath and knocked on the door, they waited and waited, no answer, she knocked again, once more nothing, she began to bang on the door shouting Naruto and Sakura's name, but no answer ever came "Maybe I should go check out back, you know, perhaps they are…"

Without warning she punched him in the face "Pervert, you just want to try and see if you can get a quick peek at them"

"WHAT?! No damn it, why do you always assume that!" He said with an upset tone

"It's obvious there not here, Yamato this is YOUR fault, had you woken me up this morning like I asked, then we would have caught them before they could have left" while crossing her arms "Now we have to look for them AGAIN, and this time the streets are full of people, it's going to be harder"

"then perhaps we should recruit some help" Yamato said plainly "Konoha is full of expert tracker"

"that's the first intelligent thing you have thought of in a while" she said with a faint smile "But your still an idiot for letting me sleep in, come, we are going to pay the Inuzuka's a visit"

Meanwhile newly formed Team Naruto was waiting for their leader to arrive

"Where is he" Konohamaru wondered, even though he wasn't late yet

"Give him time, he told us to meet him at around lunch time, we are early" Yuki responded

"How did I get recruited for this team again?" Hanabi asked

"I told you yesterday, Iruka Sensei saw that you were not given a team yet, and we needed a medical Nin" Konohamaru explained to her again

"I guess I was just hoping to get onto Neji's team, he could probably teach me more than Naruto could, since were both Hyuga's and all"

"It's Naruto Sensei!! He may have an excuse for not giving our sensei the proper respect he deserves, but you don't!"

"What's her problem?" Hanabi asked Konohamaru

"Don't mind her, she just has a crush on Naruto Nii-San" Konohamaru said teasingly

"I DO NOT!" Yuki screamed out while she jumped on Konohamaru to beat him up, Hanabi just stayed clear of the fighting, sat down and sighed to herself "Why me..." is all that she could think of

Naruto and Sakura had arrived and were a bit puzzled, Naruto went to Hanabi "Uh what's going on here?" he asked her while watching his team members fight one another

Hanabi got up to show respect and bowed "Naruto Sensei, Well uh, they are sparing?" she quickly made up a lie, it's not like she could tell him the truth, somehow she thought that telling him that Yuki had a crush on him and that Konohamaru was teasing her for it, wasn't the best idea

"Alright you 2, fall in!" Naruto shouted as both of them stop, realizing that Naruto had arrived, Yuki was blushing wildly, feeling embarrassed "Naruto Sensei, we are so sorry, isn't that right Konohamaru?" she said while giving him an angry glare

The boy had multiple bruises, it's not like he didn't know how to fight, but he just couldn't, or well didn't want to fight Yuki "I am so sorry Naruto Nii-San, it won't happen again, I swear" Konohamaru responded

"What? There is nothing wrong with a little sparing, it's good to practice" Naruto said with a smile

Both Konohamaru and Yuki looked at Hanabi "You guys owe me one" she whispered to them so Naruto couldn't hear her

Yuki had finally noticed Sakura standing behind Naruto "Who is that?!" she asked whispering to Konohamaru

"That, is Sakura" he simply responded

"What? That is Sakura?!" she thought to herself "But..But..She is beautiful, how can I compete with THAT!" she wondered to herself

"Alright everyone, Konohamaru already knows who this is, but I will introduce you to her, This is Haruno Sakura, she is the Executive chief medical doctor of our hospital, meaning she is the second in charge there, we have been on the same team since we were genin and know each other very well, it includes our strength and weaknesses, I know in a battle that I can depend on her, and she can depend on me, that is what a team is all about, and that is what I want for us to become, so from time to time, she will be here to help us train"

"She is a high ranking medical ninja as well?! That must mean that she is also smart!! Add to that how long that they have been together…But I can't give up, she is going down!! Because true love conquers all! If she is a medical ninja, it must mean that she is weak in battle" Yuki thought once more to herself

"But before we begin, let's start with getting to know each other, when it's your turn, I want you to state your name, likes and dislikes and your dream, now I know I already know you Konohamaru, but let's start with you"

"My name is Sarutobi Konohamaru, I like training and my Nii-San, what I don't like are the people who hurt others and kill for pleasure…" he said while thinking back to the tragedy of his family, his parents were killed, his grandfather, the third Hokage was killed and finally his uncle Asuma was also killed only a few years ago "my dream, well I guess it would be to one day restore my clan to its former glory" He said with a grin

"What happened to your dream of becoming Hokage?" Naruto asked out of curiosity

"Although in the past, I thought that's what I wanted, but I was just a kid, I didn't know what I truly wanted, but now I do, also, you're going to be the next Hokage anyway Nii-san" he said with a huge grin

"Wow, you have really grown up, I am proud of you Konohamaru" Naruto said with a smile for Konohamaru "Alright, let's move along then" he said while looking at Hanabi

"My name is Hyuga Hanabi, I like to train alongside my cousin Neji, I don't really have any dislikes, My dream I guess would be to live up to the Hyuga name and make my father proud"

"Very good, next" He said while looking at Yuki

"My name is Talho Yuki, I like to train so people don't think I am weak, I hate jerks who think girls are good for nothing as ninja's and finally, my dream is to find someone who can accept me for who I am!" she said while staring at Naruto and trying not to blush

"Good, well I guess it's my turn, my name is Uzumaki Naruto" he thought about introducing himself as Namikaze Naruto, but he though it wasn't the right place or time, plus he wanted to confirm he was a Namikaze with Tsunade first "my likes are ramen and my lovely Sakura, my dislikes are trash who abandon their team members because they think they are better than them, and finally my dream is to one day be able to prove to everyone that I am worthy of the title of Hokage" He said with a smile

"Alright then…" he tried to continue but was cut off

"What about her?" Yuki asked while pointing at Sakura

"She isn't part of the team so she isn't obligated to"

"No Naruto, I don't mind, it's only natural they want to know a bit about me" she said, Naruto nodded in agreement with her "Alright then, as you all know already, my name is Haruno Sakura, I like a certain blond hair, blue eyes, orange wearing ninja" she said with a smile while staring at Naruto who returned her smile "I dislike being away from that very ninja, and finally, I dream of one day living a happy life with said ninja"

Yuki was getting frustrated; she had to fight the urge to beat her up

"Alright, now that we all got to know each other a little bit, we can begin, since you are all Chunin, I will assume that you all know the basics, which means walking up tree's, walls as well as walking on water"

"Yes Sensei" they all responded

"Good, that means we don't have to waste time teaching you chakara control then, I want to see what your all capable of, so this is what we are going to do, I will join the team, we will work together, while Sakura attacks us, our focus will be to look out for each other, if you do not work as a team and look out for one another, then in battle, it may prove to be our downfall"

"But Naruto sensei, just her against us four? It sounds a bit unfair" Yuki said

"Indeed, but if we work as a team, we may get out of it without too many bruises" Naruto responded

"What is he talking about" Yuki whispers to Konohamaru "She is going to get creamed!!"

"You don't know Sakura…I am just happy that she is a medical Ninja and that she can heal any of our injuries if she gets carried away…" He said with genuine fear for his well being as he remembered the beatings he witness her give Naruto, and she had gotten her hands on him a few times as well

"Can she really be that powerful?!" Yuki thought to herself

"She is the fifth Hokage's protégé and apprentice after all" Hanabi added

Yuki couldn't believe it, it seems like this girl was perfect in each and every way, she was beautiful, she was smart, she was strong, but Yuki was going to prove herself, she was going to show Naruto that she was strong, and if she could defeat that perfect freak of nature, then perhaps he would notice her…

"Alright everyone…SCATTER!"

They all jump in different directions as Naruto and Sakura had not moved yet "Well this should be fun, but shouldn't you have joined them?" Sakura asked him

"I wanted to see how they would scatter, did you notice anything?"

"They all ran in different directions?" she answered

"Yeah, right after I told them this was a team exercise"

"Well there still young and learning" She said with a smile "Now you should get out there, or do you want me to take you down now?" she said with a grin

"Just be easy on us Sakura Chan" he said returning her grin

"You know you can beat me, your stronger then I am"

"You're not as weak as you think you are, plus I will be using only one of my Justus, meaning no clones, no rasengan, I want them to lose, and learn to work together"

"So if it's not your shadow clones or rasengan, what one are you going to use?"

"You will find out when I use it" he said with a grin, he was about to jump away when she stopped him

"Kiss me good luck?" she said with a grin

"Well I guess it can't hurt" He said while he wrapped his arms around her and began kissing her passionately, but she quickly began focusing chakara into her fist and took a swing at him, but all she was able to hit was a log, which brook into pieces upon contact

"So its substitution jutsu huh?" she said with a grin

Naruto was standing on a nearby tree branch "That was a dirty trick Sakura Chan" He said with a grin as she stared at him from bellow before he disappeared in a poof of smoke

She began making hand signs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" suddenly there were now four Sakura's "You may not be using your jutsus but you didn't say anything about me not being able too "she said with a grin "You three, go after the kids, leave Naruto to ME" the real Sakura instructed her clones as they scattered

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**End Chapter 15  
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And that finishes yet an other chapter, i hope once more you all enjoyed it :), i had lots of fun torturing poor Yamato, as well as playing around with Yuki ;) Expect to see quite a few new chapters pop up during the weekend, i am REALLY feeling inspired right now, and your continued reviews is only fueling my desire to keep on going, so please keep them coming :) as a fellow author said in her story don't forget the 3 R's , Read, Rave, Review, lol i though it was brilliant :P


	16. Chapter 16

Alright, as promised, here is yet an other chapter! and once more, its my longest to date, with over 3350 words "BEFORE AUTHOR NOTES!! :D" I hope you all enjoy it, now for the reviewers :)

naru-ca-titan - Wow, thanks so much, it makes me feel all happy to know that i have people loving this story so much :)

naturokurosaki - well he finds out about it in this chapter, read to find out what happens :P thanks again for the review

chickenman00712 - like i told naturokurosaki, he finds out in this chapter ;) Thanks for the review :D

angeredblackman - Once more, thank you for liking my story, i don't want to give to much of the story away, but there will be a, time skip of some sort ;) and as for being Hokage at 19 "thats how old he is btw" that is nothing, Garaa was Kazekage at what, like 15-16 , might have been even sooner because they don't say how long he had been the Kazekage before the time skip, my point is, age doesn't matter :), Naruto is worthy of holding the title

xzavx x2 - Thanks for the review once more, like i said to the others, Naruto finds out in this chapter, also i never though of you as a hater :P

Ymere - I value all of my fans/reviewers, they are the reason that i post this story with such passion, without you guys, there is no one to read my story ;) So thank you, thank you, thank you so much for reviwing and enjoying my story :)

Alright, well that's all of them for this chapter, keep those reviews coming, on with the story!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 16**

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Meanwhile one of Sakura's clones was trying to track down Yuki, but she could never pinpoint her position, suddenly a pair of eyes open from one of the trees, Sakura tries to smash it but there is nothing there "What is this, genjutsu?" she thought for a moment, she did a few hand seals "CANCEL!" but nothing happened "She is only a Chunin, there is no way that she has a genjutsu that I can't cancel" suddenly she felt it again, a pair of eyes looking at her from another location, and without warning multiple weapons are thrown her way, she deflects or dodges them all, but she was unable to figure out where they came from "This kid is kind of good" she thought to herself, she began to calm herself and concentrate on trying to detect a chakara signature, she had finally found one, but it was so faint, it could have been mistaken for a small animal, she launched her attack, Yuki jumps out of the way and is finally forced to reveal herself "Ah, there you are!" Sakura said as she turned to face her

"Damn it, she is powerful, but I can't give up" she launches an attack against Sakura she concentrated her chakra and suddenly a few rocks began to float in the air, Yuki used her speed and kicked them one by one as hard as she could, Sakura was surprised as the rocks almost hit her, Yuki however does not stop there, she does hand signs and shouts out "Earth style, crushing bolder!" suddenly Sakura is almost crushed by a falling bolder

"she can use earth elemental moves at her level? She is good, but she still lacks experience" she said with a grin as she saw an opening, and she wasn't going to waste it, she moves in with speed and punches Yuki as hard as she can, without putting any chakara into her fist, after all, she didn't want to hurt or injure her, Yuki flies slightly onto her back feeling the pain from the punch, even without chakara, it still hurt very much, but she got back to her feet

"Is that the best you can do?" She said panting heavily, trying to put up a brave front, even though she knew she had used up most of her chakara already

Sakura smiled, she liked the girls attitude, but Naruto wanted them to learn a lesson, and that's what she was going to do, she was just going to knock her out, nothing more, she concentrated her chakara to her feet and legs so she would be able to run fast enough to surprise her and knock her out with one punch, she began to make her move, Yuki was surprised by the speed and was not able to mount up a defence quickly enough, she watched as Sakura's fist was heading straight for her head

Suddenly she feels herself being pushed and almost flying through the air just before her body hits the ground, but to her surprise, there is no pain, and she is still conscious, and on top of her was Konohamaru, he had dove in to save her "Are you alright Yuki Chan?"

She just stared at him, he had just risked himself to save her "Yeah, thanks Konohamaru Kun…" she responded as they both got up "Now that you're here, maybe we can beat her!" she said with confidence, but it was short lived as the Sakura clone that was tracking Konohamaru jumped down and stood beside the other clone "There are 2 of her?! Is she using an illusion jutsu?!"

"No, there shadow clones, Naruto Nii-San taught her how to do them" he said while holding onto his side, feeling a sharp pain

"What happened Konohamaru?" Yuki asked

"It's nothing" he said trying to lie, in reality, he wasn't entirely successful, Yuki had been saved, but Sakura hit him instead, but he didn't want to worry Yuki over it, he could endure the pain

"Did she hit you?" she asked with concern "She did didn't she!!" Yuki said in anger, she began making multiple hand sighs, the Sakura's just stood by, wanting to see what she had planned "Konohamaru Kun got hurt protecting me, this bitch is going to get it now!!" Yuki though to herself "Earth style, earth needles of death!" suddenly the bolder shattered into thousands of pieces, they were just floating in the air as they had turned into mini stone darts, suddenly they all began to fly through the air at extreme speed towards the clones, one of the clones was able to dodge the attacks and escape without getting hit, but the other one had been hit enough to dispel it

The real Sakura that was hunting down Naruto suddenly stopped in her tracks "What? One of my clones was defeated?" She thought to herself

"There not a bad group of kids, don't you think so Sakura Chan" Sakura suddenly froze as she looked around but could not see him

"Where is he?" she wondered, but he had already vanished

Back with Yuki and Konohamaru, Yuki was down to one knee and panting heavily with a slight grin on her face "Take that!" she said before passing out from lack of chakra and energy

"Yuki Chan!" Konohamaru said while catching her before she fell, he laid her down gently

"Well the kid has real potential, that's for sure" the remaining Sakura clone thought, Konohamaru got into a defensive position, he wasn't going to abandon Yuki, and his injury was hurting him too much to carry her "So, what are you going to do now Konohamaru? Stay here and face me, or run away and risk Yuki getting hurt" Of course, she had no intentions of touching Yuki, but she was playing mind games with him

"Naruto Nii-San would NEVER abandon a fellow team member and fellow ninja, and neither will I!" he began to go through multiple hand signs, Sakura had seen them somewhere before but she couldn't quite put her finger on it "Orioke no jutsu" Konohamaru suddenly turned into a very cute , very naked young girl version of himself Sakura's jaw almost dropped for many reasons, one being she couldn't believe he had just done that and that he thought it would be effective on her, and now she was going to have to beat him up for using that in her presence

She was about to attack him, but to her surprise she felt someone kick her from behind as she fell to the ground, Konohamaru returned to his regular form as Hanabi appears beside of him "Good distraction Konohamaru" she simply said

"We have to stick together, remember what Naruto Nii-San said, as a team we are stronger"

"Indeed, I wouldn't have been able to sneak up on her without you"

Sakura got up from the ground as the clone chasing Hanabi joins her "We underestimated them" she simply said "Yeah, we can't play around anymore" the other responded

They both took out a kunai from their weapons pouch and launched an immediate attack, Hanabi and Konohamaru took out a kunai of their own and prepared for the attack, suddenly from under their feet they both feel a set of hands grab their legs, and they are both dragged under the earth until there head is the only thing still above ground "What just happened" Konohamaru asked as he couldn't move and the clones had stopped their attack as Sakura jumped out from under the ground

"You let your guard down, that's what happened" Sakura said

"That's playing dirty Sakura Chan" Naruto said while sitting in a nearby tree branch

"You never had any intentions of helping them did you?" Sakura asked with a grin

"I wanted to see what they would do if they were ever separated from me during battle, I won't always be able to be by their sides"

"Well 3 of your team members are down, all that's left is the team leader"

"That's fine Sakura Chan, we are done for today" He said while standing up on the tree branch, but to his surprise a Sakura clone jumped from a tree branch just above him and punches him in the face, sending him flying backwards, he quickly does a back flip so that he can land safely on the ground

"It ends when I say it ends" Sakura said while staring at him

Naruto smiled at her as he wiped some blood that was coming from his mouth "So you want to play Sakura Chan? Alright then, let's play!"

"Go get her Naruto Nii-San!!" "Yeah Naruto Sensei, you can take her!" both Konohamaru and Hanabi cheered from there earth prison, since it's all they could do

All of the Sakura clones had surrounded Naruto "So how are you going to beat me with only one jutsu Naruto?" she asked as they were circling around him

"Sakura Chan, have you already forgotten the first nickname I earned?" he said with a smile just before he vanishes leaving only a flash of yellow and orange as he takes out two clones without any problems

"How did you move so fast!?!" She asked as the last clones regrouped with Sakura

"Family secret" he said with a smile, Sakura didn't understand, but she wasn't going to let him win that easily, she began to run in formation with her clone

Naruto was about to get into a defensive position when suddenly he hears a voice "DYNAMIC MARKING!!" then feels something wet and warm is being poured all over him "Great shot Akamaru!!" the voice once again shouts out

"…KIBA! DID YOU JUST MAKE AKAMARU PEE ALL OVER ME?!" Naruto shouted out in rage as Sakura couldn't help but start laughing hysterically

"Oh he got you good Naruto" she giggled and laughed

"Yeah, yeah, very funny" Naruto said while wiping the pee off his face with his sleeve "What are you doing here anyway Kiba, can't you see that we are in the middle of something?" he said to his friend

"Sorry Naruto, but we asked him to find you" Shizune said as she and Yamato ran up to them

"Shizune? Your back? That's perfect, that must mean old lady Tsunade is also back from the diplomatic talks, I need to talk with her about something important" Naruto said as Shizune suddenly began staring at the ground

"Naruto, we need to speak to you, its urgent…Maybe Sakura should also join us since it involves her as well" Yamato added

"Yes, Sakura you come as well, she was the closes thing she had to a daughter" Shizune said in a sad tone

"What's going on?" Naruto asked

"Not here, just come with us" Yamato said plainly

"Alright, just let me get my team out from the mess there in" Naruto said as he walked over to Konohamaru and Hanabi and helped them out from the ground

"Naruto Nii-San, what's going on?" he asked him

"I don't know, you two take Yuki to the hospital, make sure she is alright, and Konohamaru, have that wound checked as well" they both nodded "By the way, I am proud of you, you worked as a team, I was surprised because I thought you had not paid attention to my words" he said with a smile

"Thank you Naruto Sensei" Hanabi said as she bowed to Naruto out of respect, they both pick up Yuki and carried her together

"Thank you Kiba for your help" Yamato told him

"No problem, if you need a tracker again, you know where to find me" he said with a grin as he jumped away with Akamaru

"Hey, would you guys mind if I went home to catch a shower and a change of clothing?" Naruto said while smelling himself and being disgusted with the results of Akamaru's dynamic marking

"Is it really necessary?" Shizune asked

Yamato went closer to smell Naruto "Oh yeah, it is" he simply said while backing away

"Just give me half an hour, that should be enough for me to get cleaned up and a fresh set of clothing"

"Alright, but no longer, what we need to tell you is of the utmost importance, meet us at the fire tower in half an hour" Shizune said "And Sakura, go with him, make sure he doesn't take too long" she added, knowing Sakura would make sure he would make it on time

"Understood" she said simply as they both began to run towards Naruto's apartment

On the way there they talked about the results of the training "I was very impressed with my team, they are much more skilled then I first thought" Naruto said with pride

"Yeah, that Yuki is especially skilled, she can use earth elemental jutsus, it took me by surprised, also she seems to have excellent stealth abilities, I had a hard time finding her"

"Yeah, with the proper training, she could make Junin in no time; however she seemed to have an issue with you for some reason"

"You think? Maybe she was just trying to impress you"

"Well if that's all it was, then she has succeeded, anyway lets hurry, I want to find out what this is all about" he said as they picked up the pace

They had arrived at Naruto's place and he was in the shower, Sakura looked around, she had been in his apartment before, but she had not been in it recently, she noticed that Naruto was very tidy, that was a change from the messy Naruto she use to know, she could remember when there would be empty ramen cups all over the place, dirty dishes and clothing all over the ground, then again, he was just a boy living on his own, so it was no surprise, but this time, everything was spotless, she couldn't even find any dust on the appliances "Alright Sakura Chan, I am ready" he said while walking out of the bathroom with a fresh set of clothing

"Let's go, we still have about 10 minutes" Sakura said as they left in a hurry. The fire tower was a short run from Naruto's apartment, Yamato was waiting for them at the entrance

"Good, you're here" he simply said as they entered the tower

"Yamato Sensei, what is this about?" Naruto said while still showing respect for the one who helped him train and keep the Kyuubi under control

"It's not my place to say, but you will find out very soon" he said as they continued to walk down the hall, Naruto had noticed something strange, the atmosphere in the tower was very gloomy, something was wrong, he was sure of it

"Naruto, the council of Konoha wishes to meet with you" Shizune said as they approached the council chambers

"What is this about Shizune?" He asked, beginning to be slightly annoyed at being kept in the dark

"They will explain everything to you, once you come out, I have something else to give you as well" she said with sad eyes

"What about me?" Sakura asked

"I will talk to you while he is in with the council members" Shizune simply said

Naruto looked at Sakura; he was worried, what did the council want with him? And where was Tsunade? "Hurry back to my side Naruto Kun…" She said while giving him a last minute hug as he began walking towards the massive doors, 2 ANBU guards open them for him as he walked through them

"So what's going on?" Sakura asked once more

"Sakura…I don't really know how to tell you this, there is no easy way so, I will just say it, during the diplomatic talks, the moon ninja's attacked us, we lost many skilled ninja's including Lady Hokage…"

Sakura just blinked, she didn't want to believe what her ears had just heard "No, that can't be, she is the Hokage, she can't die, she is one of the legendary Sanin's, she was my master…SHE CAN'T BE DEAD!" she said while tears were starting to flow down her cheeks

"I know how you feel, I spent most of my life with her as her assistant, it was my job to protect her, and I failed… They were very strong, and fought using a style we had never seen before, we were overwhelmed, we almost didn't make it out alive, had it not been for Yamato's abilities"

Sakura was beginning to clinch her fists, her sadness was turning into anger towards these new enemies "What does the council want with Naruto?" Sakura asked suddenly

"One of the last requests she had before she died was…That she wished to see Naruto as her replacement, she knows that there is no one better suited to protect Konoha then him, the council agreed with her"

Sakura was in shock, she had a mix of emotions, sadness for losing her master, anger at the new enemy, happiness for Naruto who was getting his dream "Another one of her requests was that I finish your training, you have the potential to become an even greater medical ninja then Lady Hokage, or so she believed"

"This isn't fair, it's just not fair!" she said while slamming her fist against the wall

At the same time as they were having their conversation outside, Naruto was now facing the council, there seemed to be a bright light flashing in his face and he couldn't see anything

"Uzumaki Naruto, you have been summoned here by the will of the council, we would like to begin by telling you that the fifth Hokagee of Konoha has fallen in battle"

"What?!" Naruto asked

They explained to him the same story Shizune had told Sakura about the diplomatic talks going bad and how Shizune and Yamato were the only survivors "As a result, we are now at war with these unknown ninja of the moon, however, we also find ourselves with no leader, though the loss of the fifth Hokage is a great blow to us, we must continue on"

"These bastards are going to pay, you can be sure of that!" Naruto responded

"In time yes, but you cannot allow your emotions to control you, right now the village needs you more than ever"

Naruto just looked confused "What? I know I am a strong Ninja of the leaf, but why does Konoha need me now more than ever?"

"You are indeed one of our strongest ninja's, you have saved this village multiple times already, that is why, with the recommendations made by the last wishes of the fifth Hokage's last request, we are offering you the title of the sixth Hokage of the leaf, do you accept?"

Naruto could only blink as he heard those words, him Hokage? It couldn't be possible, plus he didn't want to receive the title this way, how could he ever replace Tsunade? "The village needs a leader, and you are the only one we can trust with the job"

"The only one?.."

"There are many other strong ninja's in Konoha; however, your heritage gives you the right to the title"

"My heritage?"

"We will not go into details about it here, as Shizune has requested to talk with you personally about it, since it was another one of the Hokage's last requests"

Naruto looked down at the ground, memories of when he first met Tsunade began to fill his head, from the time she beat him with only a flick of a finger, to the time she acknowledge him and gave him the necklace he still had around his neck, the day they celebrated the destruction of the Akastsuki, she was the closes thing to a real mother he ever had "Do you accept?" one of the council members asked again

"I swear, I will avenge her death AND protect the village of Konoha with my life, this is a pledge I take as the sixth Hokage of the leaf!"

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**Now i know what some of you may be thinking, i made Sakura appear weak, and Yuki strong, Sakura was just very surprised by Yuki's sheer will to beat her, also she had no idea Yuki was skilled in earth elements, something i will explain in latter chapters :P Anyway, Naruto finally knows about Tsunade, and is now the unofficial 6th Hokage, unofficial only because it hasn't been made public yet , anyway, i hope you all enjoyed it, Read, Rave, Review :P


	17. Chapter 17

Alright, here is the new chapter, i can't say that i am as proud of this chapter as i am the others, i only hope that you guys enjoy it, i know i had said i would make lots of updates this weekend, but i have had to many distractions, so i am sorry for that, however, depending on how i feel, i may just make chapter 18 sometime tonight, but make no promises, now for the reviews :)

crsstlk - Have no worries man, i know that i am posting very fast and thous you may miss a chapter to review :P but knowing that your reading and taking the time to review is good enough for me :) so no worries, i thank you for the review

xzavx - Thanks again for the review, i hope you like this chapter as much :)

chickenman00712 - Do not worry about it man, we are all busy with out own things, the simple fact that you are taking time from your busy life to read AND review my story is good enough for me, keep those reviews coming, no matter how short they are ;)

Alright, that's all of them for this time, so keep them coming guys/girls

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 17**

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Naruto had just exited the council chambers, they were going to begin the preparations to make the announcement to the village about everything, from the death of Tsunade, to the war, as well as the newly appointed sixth Hokage

Sakura and Shizune were waiting for him, without warning Sakura ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him with tears coming down her cheeks, Naruto wrapped his own arms around her as he felt her pain "Why did they have to kill her…" she simply said

"Sakura Chan… I will make them pay for what they have done, it's a…" Sakura knew what he was about to say and wanted to stop him before he could complete it by putting her hand on his mouth

"No Naruto, you're not going to go off on your own crusade like you did for Sasuke because of me, the village needs you, and I need you to Naruto…" She said while running her fingers threw his spiky hair

"Sakura…Don't worry I won't leave you ever" he said while staring at her eyes and wiping some of the tears away from her cheeks with his thumb as he rubbed her silky face

"Lord Hokage… There is something I need to speak with you about" Shizune said feeling bad for breaking the moment

"Lord Hokage… That's going to take some getting use to" He said while never taking his eyes off of Sakura "I already have an idea of what you want to talk about, and I already know the truth, however, you will confirm it"

"What?" Shizune asked him with a puzzled look

"I also have some things to tell the both of you, but let's find a more private place"

"Are you sure I should be a part of this? Shizune said it was a personal matter" Sakura said remembering the conversation she was having with Shizune about Tsunade's final requests while Naruto was in the council chambers

"Yes, because what I have to say concerns you very much, and what I suspect Shizune is going to tell me will also concern you" He told her

Shizune nodded in agreement with Naruto "We can use your office" She said motioning them to fallow her

Naruto Sakura and Shizune entered the Hokage's office, Tsunade's things were still all over the room, it kind of made him sad knowing that this was no longer her office, he stared at the chair where he had stood in front of so many times, feeling unworthy of being on the other side of the desk, but Shizune motioned for them to sit, he took a deep breath and sat down with Shizune and Sakura sitting across from him Shizune handed him a scroll "This is the scroll Tsunade handed me just before her death, she had written it a while ago, she had always planned on telling you herself, but in the event that something would happen to her, she wanted to make sure you got this scroll, she wanted to tell you this a long time ago, but she had never built up the courage she needed to tell you the truth, she felt horrible about keeping you in the dark about something that is your birthright" Shizune said with a hint of shame in her voice, Sakura was very curious, what could make Tsunade, the fifth Hokage and her master afraid of telling Naruto anything

Naruto opened the scroll

Dear Naruto, if you are reading this, then something has happened to me and I am unable to tell you in person, I hope you can forgive me for everything, as you know, your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina, however your father's name was never revealed to you and you were lead to believe that you were an Uzumaki, but the truth is, you are not, your father was a great man, a hero, someone you would have been proud of, he loved you and your mother very much, and I can only imagine the pain he felt when he was faced with the choice he made on the day of your birth, Your father was the fourth Hokage of the leaf, Namikaze Minato, meaning that your true name is Namikaze Naruto, you are his Legacy, and he would be very proud of you if he was still with us. Now that you know the truth, I can only hope that you can forgive me for not telling you sooner, you have been like a son to me, and I am very proud of you, so keep making me proud by protecting the village, also take good care of Sakura, she may not know it yet, but she is very much in love with you, she is just too stubborn to admit it to herself, so just give her time, she will come around

One last thing, there is a hidden compartment to my desk, if you push on the bottom part of the desk under your knees, it will open up, ignore the sake bottles, oh and don't tell Shizune about them either, there is a box, this box has not been opened in twenty years, it has your name on it, and it was from your father, he had it made for you as soon as he knew about your existence, he had planned on giving it to you once you had reach the rank of Junin, wear it with pride…

Sighed, Senju Tsunade, fifth Hokage of the leaf

Naruto had tears rolling down his face as he read the document, it confirmed what the Kyuubi had told him, Sakura was still wondering what was going on, Naruto handed her the scroll since he was at a loss for words to explain it to her, she read it while he opened the secret compartment, he smiled as he saw a few bottles of sake, and the box, he took it out and put it on the desk, Sakura was reading the scroll her eyes widen as she realize that Naruto was a Namikaze, and blushed slightly at the part about her, as even Tsunade knew that she had feelings for Naruto, even though she had already given into them "So…You're a Namikaze? And your father was the fourth Hokage…" She simply said as he nodded as he opened the box and took out a black robe with orange looking flames like his father use to wear, except for the different color

"That's the Namikaze cloak, your father had made a good guess in your color choices" Shizune said with a smile

"I already knew that I could be a Namikaze, but had no proof, that's why I wanted to talk with her once she would have returned…"

"You already knew?" Shizune asked confused "Well I guess you do look almost literally like your father, that would be enough to make anyone suspect the possibility" Sakura suddenly looked at a picture of the fourth that was hanging on the wall along with the other past Hokage's and then at Naruto, she was right, other than a few features and the whisker marks, they almost look identical, how could she not have seen it before now?

"Actually, no, there is something I need to say as well, and Sakura this concerns you, or well our future anyway…" He said with a serious tone, Sakura was suddenly nervous

"On that magical night when we had our very first REAL date, something happened"

"But, I don't remember anything out of the ordinary happening" she stated wondering what could have happened on that night

"Nothing you could see, however the Kyuubi had summoned me to talk with me, he told me that he was slowly dying and that contrary to what some thought, the seal was not getting weaker, but his powers were being absorbed by my body, and soon he would be gone, that was why my healing abilities were drastically declining as of late, so he had been desperately trying to get out with everything he had left, making it seem like the seal was getting weaker"

"What? But that's a good thing!" Shizune said

"That's what I was thinking as well at the time, but he didn't want to die, so he made me a deal"

"What?! You can't be serious… Wait, you're not saying you…" Shizune burst out but was cut off by Naruto

"Please let me finish, he offered me to restore my healing abilities, as well as being able to go into what he calls Kyuubi mode whenever I wanted, rather than being control by my emotions, and I would not lose control of myself in the process, these abilities would also be passed down to my... Our children" he said as he stared at Sakura who had a slight blush on her face " And to their children and so on, it would become the Namikaze blood line limit"

"You can't seriously have traded away his freedom for a blood line limit did you?! Do you know how many people he killed in that one night alone!! Your father and mother lost their lives that night and…" But Naruto cuts her off again

"Please, let me finish, I wasn't done, there is more, at that point I was still ready to let him die, but he offered me something else, the fox summoning contract" He said as he took it out of one of his pockets and set is on the table, Shizune could not believe her eyes

"This contract has been lost for a long time…" She said as she took a look at it the two names before Naruto were in a foreign language that she had never seen, and she saw how Naruto had sighed it with his true name of Namikaze

"Yes, he had it all this time, however, that's not what convinced me, look at the last part of the contract, it's easy to see since it's the newest, the Kyuubi, or any demon fox for that matter, are not allowed to harm the people of this world, unless ordered by me, or whoever else has signed the contract, in other words, for as long as this contract stay's in my hands, or my descendents, then there will never be another attack"

"Well, I still have my doubts, but it is true that he cannot break the contract, even if he is the demon lord of the foxes" suddenly there was a knock at the door

"Come in" Naruto simply said as the door opened and Yamato walked in

"Lord Hokage, we just received word the enemy is on the move, we just lost one of our border towns" He said as Mitokado walked in behind him

"With the enemy already moving we cannot afford to postpone the announcements of the fifth's death, your appointment as the sixth and the war, the council has made an emergency decision to make the announcement right away, we have already issued an emergency state and the people are gathering in front of the tower to find out what's going on, please come with me"

Naruto got up from his seat and began to walk out, but stopped beside Sakura and looked at her, he grabbed her hand and forced her out of her seat "Naruto?" She asked

"I want you by my side, this is a big occasion and I want you to be a part of it, and I could really use your support…" he said trying not to sound nervous, but Sakura could tell, she smiled at him as she agreed to go with him

They were being lead to the top of the Fire Tower, bellow them most of the village had gathered and were waiting to find out what was going on, finally they saw Mitokado come into view "People of Konoha, there are events that have happened in the past few days that have been kept quiet because we did not want to cause a panic, but we can no longer afford to keep you all in the dark, a few days ago, people from far away that we had never seen before came to us looking to be our friends, however we had found out that they had already invaded the Nation of water and the village hidden in the mist, and that we would be there next target, once they knew we knew, they attacked our forces in the city right away, including our own Hokage, the battle was hard fought, but I am sadden to say that the fifth Hokage of the leaf, as well as all but two of our ninja's sent there were killed in battle"

The people began to whisper with one another "And as sad as we all are at the lost of our leader, we must now turn our attention to this new enemy, we were hoping to have more time to get ready and grieve but they have just taken another town on the outskirts of our borders, and we can no longer afford to wait, the council has made a decision with the recommendations of the fifth Hokage's dying request on who will be the sixth Hokage, also his past and heritage has also been revealed, and for the first time, I am proud to introduce to you all to, Namikaze Naruto, son and legacy of the fourth Hokage, as your sixth Hokage!" Naruto stepped forward, wearing his new cloak as it flapped in the wind

The people were surprised by everything, they were still whispering to each other, but suddenly a few of Naruto's friends began cheering, and like a wild fire, everyone began joining in, Naruto had a slight smile, knowing that they were accepting him as the new Hokage "I know that we are all sadden by the lost of the fifth, I for one was very close to her, but we must continue to march on, I vow to protect this village with everything I have, I also vow to bring these people to justice, we owe it to her, and all those who have fallen already in this battle" The people cheered as Naruto finished his speech

Later that day Naruto had ordered that a funeral be held for Tsunade and the fallen ninja's, he said that he would not allow this to stop them from mourning the loss of a great leader, the council had agreed, but wanted it to be done as fast as possible, that very night, everyone was dressed in black, including Naruto as they paid their last respects to the fallen heroes, everything was going too fast for Naruto's liking, he would have wanted to do a proper funeral for her, but the reality that the enemy was getting closer with every passing day made it impossible, enemy scouts had even been spotted, meaning the they were getting ready to try and launch an attack on Konoha itself

Naruto was sitting at his desk reading all the reports and giving his orders, the entire village was now gearing for the war, now that they were aware of it, Sakura walked into the office and saw that he was tired "Naruto, I know your trying to work hard, but you have to rest as well, if they were to attack us right now, you would not be at one hundred percent, come on, I made us some dinner, then we can rest a bit before you come back" she said with a smile, trying to be supportive

Naruto smiled at her, knowing she was trying to help "Alright Sakura Chan" he said as he got up and held her as he kissed her and they walked out of the office, but they were surprised to find that Konohamaru, Yuki and Hanabi were waiting for him just outside

"Lord Hokage…" Yuki simply said

"We wanted to talk with you…Lord Hokage" Konohamaru finally said, Naruto was slightly sadden by not being called Nii-San "We want to know, what is to become of Team Naruto?" he asked

Naruto smiled, knowing that they did not want it to be disbanded "Just because I was made Hokage, does not mean Team Naruto is gone, as Hokage I am still a ninja, and I will still be doing missions, think of yourselves as my personal security" he said with a grin "Oh and I don't want this Lord Hokage from you guys either, I am still your sensei, and Konohamaru, I am still your big brother"

Their faces lit up at his words "Do you really mean it?" Yuki asked in an excited tone of voice, he just nodded at her with a smile

Sakura looked at him, she was very proud of him; he had taken into consideration their feelings "Of course I mean it"

"Thank you so much Naruto Nii-San" as he was almost back to his usual cheerful self

"I have an idea, me and Sakura were just about to go get something to eat, how about instead, we all go out for lunch, my treat" he said keeping his smile as the team was happy with the suggestion, he whispered into Sakura's ear "Sorry for ditching your home cooked meal…"

She simply whispered back "Don't worry, we can reheat it latter, this is a great idea"

They all walk out of the fire tower together

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**End Chapter 17  
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**I had so many things distract me during this chapter, i apologize if it is not to my regular standards, so forgive me if you did not find it as good :( please read and review


	18. Chapter 18

Well this one is a smaller chapter, though there is a lot going on in it, also this is the second chapter i release today, so i think you guys can forgive me for how small it is ;) anyway enjoy :D

Now for the reviews

naru-ca-titan - Thank you very much, and lol about your grandparents :P Its alright, as i said to the others, i release these chapters so fast that i can understand if you miss a few reviews lol, i am just happy that you are enjoying the story enough to review and tell me how i am doing, and for that i thank you, and of course i will mention you and any other reviewer, because if it wasn't for you guys, well i wouldn't be posting this story ;)

crsstlk - wow well thanks, i was affraid that i had not done a good job, i kept on having distractions, also part of it was done friday night when i was really tired, but i am happy to see that you guys enjoyed it so much, as for Sasuke, he does show up in this chapter ;) and things are about to pick up, i also worked very hard to try and get this chapter released before i went to bed so you guys could read it :D

Ymere - Thank you for enjoying the chapter, as i said to crsstlk, i just wasn't sure if i had done good enough, but you guys seem to have liked it, so it makes me happy :)

Well that's all for now, keep those reviews coming

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 18**

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Naruto was standing just outside of one of Konoha's highest security prison cells, he took a deep breath, knowing the last time he had seen the one being in there was only a few days ago, and he had almost been killed by him, he motioned for the guard to open the door and walked in, the 4 guards inside the cell were still standing at their posts, he could see Sasuke sitting down in the cell, he was staring at something that looked like a headband protector of some sort, but he couldn't see it that well

"Sasuke…It's me Naruto" he simply said, trying to get his attention "There are something's going on out there that you may want to know about" as he continued to try and get his attention but he had yet to even move, one of the guards approached him

"Lord Hokage, he hasn't moved much ever since the fifth visited him a few days ago" he said in a low enough voice so Sasuke could not hear him

"Sasuke, Konoha is now at war, there is a new enemy that no one has ever seen before, using tactics no one has ever fought against, we actually lost many good ninja's already, including the fifth Hokage… We could really use your help out there, like I said before, we are ready to forgive you, if you would just agree to rejoin us"

"And be a weapon in your war?" he asked without even taking his eyes off what Naruto assumed to be a headband of some sort

"No, as a fellow Konoha member defending his homeland… As a brother, I know you still feel something for Konoha under all that hate, you still have the will of fire inside of you" But Sasuke didn't say anything else "Just think about it, the offer will be there if you decide to take it" he said as he walked out leaving Sasuke alone with his thoughts

Meanwhile the Moon forces were getting closer and closer to their main target

"Kurokage Sama!" one of the captains said as he bowed down to his leader, on his back the number six could be read

"Yes Byakuya?" he asked

"Our scouts have reported that they have begun there fortifications, it would also appear that you gave their leader a death blow during your battle with her, they have already chosen a replacement, he is young and looks inexperienced, from what they learned, his name is Namikaze Naruto" He said in a very calm voice, it seemed to be a trait common to all captains

"Do not underestimate him, if they chose him as their leader, it must mean that he is one of their more powerful fighters, have our agents find out everything they can about him"

"As you wish Kurokage Sama" he said while bowing before he disappeared

"Namikaze Naruto huh? We will be meeting very soon" he said with a grin

Naruto had returned to his office, reading and filling out reports, ordering fortifications to be done, he had just received new reports that the enemy was on the move again, suddenly a knock came to his door "Enter" he said calmly

The door opens to reveal Kakashi and Sai as they walked in "Hokage Sama, we just received word, the wave country has fallen to the enemy" Kakashi stated

Naruto was shocked at the news, the wave country had special meaning for him for a few reasons, the first being that it was his first actual REAL mission that didn't include chasing down a cat or picking up garbage, the second being that he had such an impact on the peoples lives who live there that they name a bridge after him "Are you sure?"

"Positive" Kakashi simply responded

"But they have no ninja's to defend them.." Naruto said with a hint of sadness in his voice

"They fought bravely none the less, they were not going to lay down like they did for Gato, however, in the end it proved useless"

Naruto banged his fist against his desk "Damn it, why are they doing this to begin with!" He said out of anger, he wanted answers, but he knew he wasn't going to get any

Sai had noticed that Naruto was on edge, not himself, he guessed that the stress of taking on the role as Hokage as well as the war was starting to get to him, he decided to try and lighten the mood a little bit "Just because you are now the Hokage, it doesn't make your pi.." Kakashi quickly hit him on the head

"We should get back to our patrols, come Sai, before you say something stupid again and get me into trouble"

Kakashi literally dragged Sai out of Naruto's office, it did make Naruto smile a bit, Sai had not changed at all, he kept on trying, however, to those who knew him as a friend, they accepted him for who he was, but still, the news of the fallen wave country was hard for him to take "I just hope Inari his mom and that old annoying man are alright" suddenly there was yet another knock at the door "Damn it, how am I suppose to get any work done, Come in!"

Shikamaru walked in along with Ino "Hokage Sama…God I can't believe we have to call you that" He said in his lazy tone of voice

"Well, you could always call me Lord Hokage" He said with a grin "I assume you have word from the sand?" He asked wanting an update, he had sent them on a diplomatic mission to find out if they could get support from their allies

"The Kazekage is sending re-enforcements, and he is going to be leading them himself, they should arrive here within the next few days" Ino stated

"So Gaara is coming here himself huh? At least it's good to know that we can count on our allies, I just hope that they get here before the enemy does"

"What if they don't?" Shikamaru asked

"Then we hold our ground until they do, Konoha will NOT fall" he said with determination "Shikamaru, Ino, I have a mission suited for your abilities, I will be adding Kiba to your team"

"What is it?" Ino asked

"Another mission? How troublesome" He said as Ino kicked him

"I want you guys to find the exact location of the enemy forces, take note of how many they are and try to find out as much as you can about them, then report back to me"

"Understood Hokage Sama" Ino plainly said as she bowed, Shikamaru did the same, as they walked out, someone else walked into the office

"Hokage Sama, you wanted to see me?" Asked Neji

"Ah Neji, yes, I have a task for you Hinata and Shino"

"Of course, what is it?" He simply asked

"I am sure that the enemy is trying to learn as much about our defences as they can, and I do have ANBU patrolling the village none stop, but I need you guys to constantly scan the area for spies, you're and Hinata's byakugan, you can easily scan the area, and with Shino using his insects to help the patrols and close any gaps we may overlook"

"I understand Hokage Sama, I will assemble the team right away, if there are spies out there, we will find them!" He said with confidence as he bowed and walked out of the office, the door once more opened

"Again? I should just install a revolving door!" he said, but his tone quickly changed when he saw who had just entered

"Well, I could just go through the Window like I use to do for Tsunade" The large man with white hair said with a grin

"Ero-Sanin!" Naruto said with a smile "Where were you?"

"My network of spies had learned about an interesting rumour that the water country had been compromised, I went to investigate, and found that it had been invaded by some unknown force, by the time I got back, it was too late, and I just heard about Tsunade as well…" he said with sadness in his voice "I am the last remaining Sanin"

"Don't worry, they are going to pay for what they did…"

"I have some information on them, though I am not sure if it will be of use to us"

"What is it?" He asked "Anything would be better then what we currently know about them, which is nothing"

"The only thing that I have learned so far is that they have found a way to channel their chakara in a different manner then we do, instead of using hand sighs, they use spells of some sort, also, they all use a Katana, each Katana is different and is an extension of the user's soul so to speak"

"So your saying that a great deal of their powers come from their Katana's?" Naruto asked as Jiraiya nodded

"They are also very fast, Naruto, these people are very dangerous, and there numbers are great"

Even though he had not called Naruto by his rank, he didn't mind, he had too much respect for Jiraiya as his master "I know they are, they killed Tsunade after all, but I am telling you that, I will not allow them to take out Konoha!"

"I know you won't kid, and I will be by your side as well, you're not the only one who needs to avenge Tsunade after all" he said in a very serious tone

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**End Chapter 18  
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**End an other chapter done, like i said, its a small chapter compared to what i had been posting before, but a lot happened :), so please, read ,rave, review :D


	19. Chapter 19

Alright, well here is the newest chapter :D a LOT of stuff goes on here, and it builds up whats coming soon ;)

Well here we go, reviewer time :D

Ymere - thanks for the review, and indeed, things are stating to get rolling, and this chapter only shows it even more :D

chickenman00712 - Thanks for the review, the actions isn't far away ;)

tonello - Ah, a new reviewer :) well i am posting this not to long after you made this review, so consider your request granted ;) and thanks for the review, hope you enjoy the story so far

Alright, that's everyone for this chapter, on with the show :D

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 19**

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Kiba, Shikamaru and Ino were near the enemy camp, they had isolated a guard who was patrolling the area, the guard had not notice them yet, Shikamaru concentrated his chakara and put his hands together "Kagemane no Jutsu" suddenly his shadow began to fly towards the enemy guard and attached itself onto his feet, the guard was surprised that his abilities to move were gone, but the shadow did not stop there, it kept on creeping up his body until it reached his mouth, the guard was now unable to move and talk "Now Ino!" he whispered to her

Ino got into position and began doing hand signals "Shintenshin no Jutsu" suddenly she collapse and Kiba caught her, Shikamaru released his shadow bind and the guard turns to face them, they were surprise to see that it was a girl, she seemed to be wearing glasses and an armband that had an insignia with the number eight on it, she quickly joined them to confirm it was a success

"Alright, you know what to do right?" Shikamaru asked

"Yes, scout there camp, find out how many there are, and whatever else I can find out, just take care of my body" she said

"Don't worry, I will protect it, and make sure Shikamaru doesn't take advantage of it" Kiba said with a grin

Shikamaru sighed "How troublesome… Anyway get going before they suspect something"

Ino went back into the camp, it wasn't what she expected, the men and women were having a good time, almost like a party around a bonfire, she looked around, there were a lot more then she thought, and they all whore the same clothing, black kimonos, with the exception of a few that had the white cloaks, suddenly one of men with a white cloak got up, he had a one on his back and wild orange hair, he began to speak

"I would like your attention please" He asked as everyone stopped drinking or dancing or talking "I just want to say that I am proud of all of you, with your hard work we have been able to push these weaklings back and forced them to retreat into their fortress, the leaf village is going to be one of our biggest challenges yet, it will be much harder to attack then the mist village, they have strong fortifications on all sides, as well as many skilled ninja's, however, they are no match for us! We have yet to face a single combatant able to give us any problems, so party, celebrate, because tomorrow as the sun sets, we will march into their village, and TAKE IT" everyone cheered as their leader inspired their confidence "I want all captains and vice captains to join me in the command tent for a strategic meeting" he said before walking away

"They're going to attack tomorrow? We need to warn the Hokage right away" she though as she was about to head back towards her team when suddenly she bumped into a rather tall man

"Nanao Chan, there you are!" he said with a smile, he was dressed oddly, he had a black Kimono, as well as a white cloak, and finally, some other cloak with flowers all over it "Didn't you hear what the Kurokage said? We don't want to keep him waiting"

"Uh, of course not, lead the way" she said trying not to sound nervous, what was going on? Where were they going? She wanted to run, but she knew she was stuck in the middle of the enemies base camp, and trying to flee would end badly, she thought about cancelling the jutsu, but she was too far from her body, her consciousness could get lost and drift into the void, she had no choice, she had to keep up the charade, at least for now

The man led them to a rather large tent with multiple guards around it, as they entered, the tent was full of people a total of 24, not including herself and the man she just walked in with, they took their place at a rather large table, twelve of them had the white cloaks with the numbers one threw thirteen, except the number eight was missing, the other twelve simply had their black kimonos, but like her, they had an armband with the numbers from one threw thirteen, so if she had eight, then that must mean the man sitting next to her with the flower cloak over his white cloak had eight on his back "The people in white must be the captains, and the people with these badges must be the vice captains…Wait if that's true, then the one with the number one must be their leader! And… This must be a strategic meeting on the attack against Konoha! This is perfect, I couldn't be in any better place to gather intelligence on these people and the attack!" she thought happily to herself

"Alright, I will make this meeting brief, I know we all want to get back to the party, so let's begin with Byakuya, did we learn anything new from our spies?"

"Yes Kurokage Sama, although they have tighten up security, we were still able to slip through, we have learned something new about their leader, and a possible weakness we could exploit if we were forced too"

"Perfect, what is it?" The man with orange hair asked, Byakuya put a picture down on the table as everyone got a good look at it, Ino was in shock, it was a picture of Sakura as she left the hospital

"Her name is Haruno Sakura, she is one of their highest ranking medical ninja's, she is the executive doctor of their hospital"

"Although I agree that she would make a fine target, but what does this have to do with being a weakness to their leader" he asked

"Our agents have noticed her spending a lot of time with him, at first they thought she was just meeting with him for official business regarding the hospital, but as they kept on there surveillance, it became clear that she is more than just a friend to him"

"I see, that is excellent, do we know anything about her abilities?"

"Nothing for sure, but it is believed that she may be as strong as their last leader, she was her pupil"

"If that is true, we are going to need a captain to take care of her then, any takers?"

A small white hair boy with the number ten on his white cover stood up "I will take her, I can trap her using my ice abilities without hurting her, and if needed, she can be used as bait if you wish my lord" the young boy said with a calm voice that sent chills up Ino's spine

"Excellent Toshiro, and unlike with her master, you won't need to hold back on her, maybe get some revenge for the marks she left on your face" he said with a slight grin

"These marks will heal, I bare no grudges against her, I wish only to serve you and my country Kurokage Sama" he said as he sat back down

"Retsu, how are your preparations going?" Ichigo asked her

A rather frail looking women stood up, she had the number four on her cloak "The fourth division is ready to move out, our first aid supplies have been replenish, we should be able to take care of any injury on the field" She said as she sat back down, Ino guessed that it must be their medical division

"Perfect, how about our plan of attack?"

Once again the man with the number six stood up and opened a map of what seemed to be Konoha on the table, and it seemed to be recently made, including their new fortifications "Our spies were able to sketch blue prints from their locations, I just received these, there is no weakness in their defence, so I suggest we create one" he said simply

"How do you propose we go about doing that?"

"We use a large part of our forces to assault there front gate, making them think that's our main target, when in reality, we take some of our strongest people and hit them here" he said while pointing at a spot on the map "once we are in, we begin attacking them from the inside, creating confusion enough for us to open the main gate for our forces to storm the village"

"That's a good plan, but I would rather we had a backup just in case they don't fall for it"

One of the other captains got up, he had twelve on his cloak "I suggest we just use brute force and blow their main gate open, if they leave us no choice, my men are experts in the arts of destruction, leave the main gate to my division" he said with confidence

"Perfect, Byakuya you lead the attack on the other side, along with 2 other captains and the best men you can find, while we create the diversion, if after half an hour, you still haven't open the gate, we will destroy it from our side"

"Understood Kurokage Sama"

"Alright, everyone, tomorrow will be a big night for us, it will also be a full moon, we will show these weaklings the true power of the night country! Now go out there and have some fun, you all deserve it!" he said as everyone got up and left the tent, Ino wanted to get back to her team right away, but she was stopped

"Nanao, where are you going so fast?" the man who she guessed must have been her captain asked her

"Uh, I was thinking about going to bed early" she said, wanting to get away from him

He raised an eyebrow "Really? But you promised you would dance with me tonight, please dance with me Nanao Chan!" He said while holding her close into an embrace, these two must have been lovers of some sort Ino thought to herself, how would she get away from him? But suddenly he pushed her away and looked at her with hateful eyes, he even took out his Katana "Who are you? And what have you done with Nanao"

Ino was surprised, was her cover blown? And if it was, how? "Uh what are you talking about? It's me Nanao"

Some of the other captains had begun gathering wanting to know what was going on "No you're not, first of all, we are night country ninja, we don't go to bed at this time of night! EVER, that was your first mistake, your second one was to not blow me off after I asked you to dance with me, and finally, you did not slap me when I hugged you, Nanao would have tried to knock me out by now! So who are you" The other captains had begun taking out there weapons and had them pointed at her

"So, they finally got a spy inside our ranks huh? Clever of them, using one of our own like that" Ichigo said with a grin as he grabbed her arm, she pushed him away as he laughed but she wasted no time in creating hand sighs

"Shinranshin no Jutsu!" she said while targeting as many people as she could, suddenly they turned their weapons on each other, unlike mind transfer, she had just cast mind body disturbance Jutsu, it would make enemies turn on each other, they were not going to kill each other, but it was enough to create an opening for her to get away as they begun to fight each other, she ran as fast as she could towards her teams last position, and when she could feel she was close enough, she released her mind possession Jutsu

Ino was back in her body "So did you learn anything?" Shikamaru asked

"Talk latter, let's get the hell out of here before they find our position!"

"What did you do?" Kiba asked

"NOT NOW LET'S GO!!" she demanded, the guys didn't argue as they began returning to the village as fast as they could

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**End Chapter 19  
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**Well that was that, i hope you guys enjoyed it, next chapter to come out soon, so until then, read, rave, review ;)


	20. Chapter 20

alright, here is chapter 20! An other 10 chapters have gone by, wow, i have had such a good time with this story so far, i can only hope that you guys will support me for an other 10 chapters :D, like i did for chapter 10, i would like to give a few statistics of the story so far :P this story was started on Jan 31st, and today is March 11, so that's about 39 days, in those 39 days this story has accumulated 62 reviews almost 11k hits, with an average of 500 hits a day "had one day with 747 hits, i was VERY excited when i saw that :D" with 54k words in 20 chapters, that is a lot for only over one month :P, i am very happy and proud of the story so far, as well as my loyal reviewers, who i shall now respond too :)

xzavx - Thanks for the review, it doesn't affect there memory, actually they are conscious of what they are doing, but they just can't control there actions, i didn't even know Ino had that ability until i read it in her list of Justus :)

chickenman00712 - Thanks for the encouragement, and for the review, keep on reading :)

crsstlk - Thanks for the review, and really? well i hope this chapter makes up for it :/ also to answer the question you asked me a few chapters ago and i keep forgetting, yes, i have read and cough up to chapter 438 of Naruto, all i have to say is..wow, totally not what i was expecting, and i can't wait to find out what happens, i won't go into details here so i don't ruin it for the others who are behind :)

Well that's everyone for now, so here it is, the much anticipated chapter 20!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 20  
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Shikamaru's team were moving as fast as they could, once they had Konoha in view they knew that they were safe, but for some reason, they did not want to stop running until they had reached the safety of the walls, Tenten was one of the guards at the gate and was going to greet them "Hey guys" she said with a smile, but they didn't even slow down, they just passed through, they had to inform the Hokage of what they had learned "Fine guys, thanks.." She said as she returned to her position

Naruto was in a meeting with the council members about the defences, they were also planning the possible evacuation of the villagers if they were forced too, the doors open and an ANBU guard entered "Hokage Sama, the team you sent to scout the enemy have returned sir, I explained to them that you were in a meeting, but they claim that they have information that cannot wait"

"That is alright, let them in" Naruto said as the man bowed to him and allowed them in

Shikamaru's team bowed their heads head to show their respect "Hokage Sama, we have come back from our mission with news on the enemy, Ino was able to use her mind transfer jutsu and get information on many things" He said

"Excellent news, I knew I picked the right people for the job, Ino, what did you learn?" Naruto asked as the council awaited her answer

"Hokage Sama, the news I come with is not good, their numbers are much greater then we first thought, they are well over one thousand of them" the council began to whisper hearing the news, Konoha only had a few hundred ninja's

"Everyone calm down, please let her finish" Naruto commanded as the council stopped to allow her to continue

"They plan to attack us tomorrow night as the sun sets, I was actually able to sit down at their strategic meeting for their plan of attack" Ino said

"You were able to not only find out when they attack but there entire plan as well? This is much more then I thought we could get, Ino you are one of our greatest spies" Naruto said with a smile

"Although, she was caught, and thus the plan may change because of it" Kiba stated

"I don't believe it will" Ino said with confidence

"What makes you so sure?" Naruto asked curious

"These people are very confident, they know they have us outnumbered, they think they have already won, I agree that they may change it slightly, but the main plan will remain the same" she simply stated

"Lord Hokage, are you sure we can assume such a thing?" one of the council members asked

"I trust in Ino's intuition, please continue Ino" he said

Ino smiled feeling confident and happy that Naruto trusted her "First sir, I must begin by saying, Konoha is full of spies, they have Intel on us that I never thought they would have, such as details on our new fortified defence and their weaknesses, and sir, they have even found out about Sakura and made her a target in order to get to you" she said

Naruto couldn't believe it "What? But I got Neji to step up security and begin searching for spies; how could they have slip through"

"I have an idea" Shikamaru suddenly spoke up

"What is it?" Naruto asked

"Think about it, what is currently out of the ordinary right now in the village? We have security patrols; we are gearing up for war, constructing defences, what out of these new things could be a possible opening for spies?"

"I don't get it…" Naruto said puzzled, but no one else had figured it out either

"In order for us to construct those defences, we hired outside help since it was too much for us to do on our own, they could have easily slipped in spies pretending to be construction workers, and what best way for them to know about our defences, if they are the ones building them…"

The council began to whisper with each other again "Silence!" Naruto once again commanded "Shikamaru, I don't know what we would do without you sometime, Kiba" Naruto said directing his attention towards him "Neji, Hinata and Shino are on the top of the fire tower, give them the new information, and tell them to begin paying close attention to the outside labour force we hired" Naruto ordered

"Yes Hokage Sama" Kiba said as he left the room in a hurry, partly because he wanted to get the information to them as fast as he could, and partly because he wanted to see Hinata again

"What about Sakura sir" Ino asked "They have a captain, specifically chosen to fight and capture her if needed"

"She should be evacuated with the rest of the villagers" One of the council members suggested "That way she is safe and will not become a distraction or a weakness for you my lord"

Naruto slammed his fist on the table "Do not EVER say that Sakura can be a weakness,

she is my strength, the source of will to fight so hard" he said with anger "I know Sakura better than anyone here, and I can tell you all that she will refuse to not fight, she will not run away because her life is in danger, plus, if they think they can capture her easily, they will be in for a surprise, Sakura is much stronger then you all give her credit for, she is much stronger then she believes she is, I trust her to be able to take care of herself"

"But what if she is captured Hokage Sama?" the old women, Utatane asked "Are you saying that you would not stop fighting if her life was in danger? What if they are able to overpower her and they have a Katana ready to pierce her heart? Would you just ignore it and keep fighting? I understand your feelings my lord, and I do not blame you for them, you are human just like the rest of us, and I can tell you that I would lay down my weapon if someone was going to kill my loved one, understand that we are only trying to look out for her my lord and insure that you are able to defend Konoha, you should consider sending her away, it would be different had they not known about her"

Naruto didn't know what to respond, it's not like he could tell them, yes, yes he could keep on fighting if they had Sakura and threaten to kill her, if she was killed, he would lose his reason for living, and his will to fight "I…Will talk with her about it" he said simply, it was the only thing he could say for now "Ino, continue with your report"

"Yes my lord, they plan to assault the main gate with the bulk of their forces, using them as a diversion while a smaller team of elite fighters get in from another side while our forces are all on the main gate, they then start attacking from the inside and in the confusion open the gate and let everyone in, if there plan fails, they will simply blow up the gate with a team of demolition specialist"

"Do you know what side they plan to enter from with the other team?" Naruto asked

"Yes, but since I was found out, it is possible they will pick another entrance now"

"Is there anything else you can tell us about them?"

"Other than the captains are their strongest fighters, they all have a white cloaks over their Kimono's with a number on it indicating what division they are from, the vice captains have an armband with the division number on them, I assume they are also very strong sir"

"Thank you for your report Ino, you did a fantastic job, now get some rest, you too Shikamaru, you earned it, and you will need to be rested for tomorrow" Naruto said

"Thank you Hokage Sama" they said as they bowed before they left the room

The council began talking about the report as Naruto could only think about Sakura, if only there was something he could do, he sighs not looking forward to the conversation he was going to have with her latter

Sakura was standing outside of Sasuke's cell, she told the guard to open the door, she walked in, Sasuke had not moved since Naruto had visited him, he was still in the same position, fixated on the headband "Sasuke…" She simply said "I need to do a check up, so I am coming in" she said as she motioned for one of the four guards to open the cage door, the other guards were ready for anything as Sakura stepped inside, they closed it right behind her, yet Sasuke had not moved a muscle "Sasuke?" she said again hoping to get a response

"I am perfectly fine, go away" he said coldly

"I don't care if you think your are fine, I have a job to do and a medical report to write up, I am not going to make stuff up or lie just because you say you feel fine" she said sternly

"Or is it just because you wanted to see me so bad that you made up this medical check up? If not, tell me why are you the one performing it"

Sakura was starting to get angry with him "I don't need to make lies in order to see you, I could come whenever I want, but alright, you want to know why I am the one stuck doing this job? Because no one else wants to do it, everyone is afraid of you, so I had to step up, I already told you Sasuke, I moved on, I am much happier now, so just be quiet and I can finish this check up as fast as I can, and then I will be out of here and you can go back to being alone in this cell" she said almost with no emotion

Sasuke could tell she was telling the truth, she had no pleasure in being in his presence, for some reason he felt slightly sad about that, he put the headband in his pocket, Sakura didn't get a chance to see what it was exactly, but she could care less, Sasuke got up and allowed Sakura to conduct her check up, she made sure that his bruised ribs were healing correctly, she also checked on his other injuries

"Alright, you seem to be healing nicely, with any luck, my next check up will be the last one, and then you won't ever have to see me again, that should make you happy" she said in a cold tone of voice, she walked back to the cage door and told the guard to open it, she stepped out and made her way out of the cell as fast as she could, she wanted to get away from him

Sasuke had sat back down and taken the headband out of his pocket again "Does everyone really hate and fear me that much?" he wondered "Why should I care anyway?" he said as he fell back into his train of thoughts

Meanwhile Neji and Hinata had received the new information, Neji was mad with himself, how could he allow spies to have slipped in so easily, Kiba had also told them about how Sakura had now become a target, he blamed himself for creating a weakness against Naruto for them to exploit "Found one!, Shino he is yours"

Shino nodded as his bugs swarmed where Neji had told him and some ANBU were sent to take out or capture the spy

"Good catch Neji" Hinata said trying to encourage him

"That's only one, I am pathetic, these people slipped through my detections, and now Sakura is in danger" he responded

"Hey man, they fooled us all, don't blame yourself over it" Kiba said trying to make him feel better

"That's right, the important thing now is that we know, and we take them out" Hinata added

"It doesn't stop the fact that they know everything they need to know about us, including a way to take the fight out of Lord Hokage" he responded

Kiba and Hinata both knew it would be pointless to say anything else, the only thing they could do now is catch those spies before they could do report anything else or sabotage anything

Naruto was standing in front of Sakura's door, thinking about what he would say to her, suddenly he felt a pair of arms grab him tightly from behind, his first instinct was to elbow whoever it was and prepare to fight, but he knew who the arms belonged too

"Naruto!" a voice came from behind him, it was a happy voice, a sweet voice, the voice belonging to his beloved Sakura, she finally let go so he could turn around to face her, she had a radiating smile that could melt any iceberg if she wanted too, but Naruto was unable to return the smile, he just looked into her beautiful eyes with worry "Naruto? Is everything alright? You don't look like yourself" she finally said knowing something was wrong

"Sakura Chan…" he simply said

"Naruto, what's wrong? You have me worried…"

"Where were you?" He asked

Sakura was confused by the question, why did it matter she wondered "Well, someone had to do a check up on Sasuke, and everyone else refused to do it, so I was the only one left, so I did it and left as fast as I could, why? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Let's go inside…" He said wanting to get out of the public eye, Sakura was starting to get worried, she had never seen Naruto like this before. They both enter the house and sit down at the table, Naruto had not said a word, he was trying to figure out how he could tell her about everything

"What is going on Naruto? You have me worried, this isn't like you" she finally said

"Sakura Chan… I sent Shikamaru, Ino and Kiba on a scouting mission…" he said with a pause, a pause that scared the hell out of Sakura

"Wait, you're not saying something happened to them did you? Is Ino alright?" She said suddenly afraid for her best friend

"No... Their mission was a complete success" he said trying to avoid eye contact with her

"Then what's going on? Tell me! You're scaring me Naruto…"

"They are going to attack us tomorrow, they have a lot more people then we first thought they had…"

"That's horrible, but I have a feeling you are not telling me everything" she said wanting answers

"We also found out that they have planted spies and know much more about us then we thought they did, they know about our defences and that have Intel on me, and you"

"Us?" She said slightly confused

"Yes, us, they know everything, and they have made you a target, one of them will attempt to capture you and use you to force me to stand down"

"That's horrible, how could they get so much information on us"

"They have been using the construction crews we have been hiring from the outside as cover, allowing them to go everywhere in the city without getting attention"

"Well you know that I can take care of myself, so I will be fine Naruto" She said trying to smile to make him feel better

"They are sending one of their captains after you, I know your strong Sakura Chan, I know it better than anyone, but if they were to get their hands on you…I wouldn't be able to say no to them, I would give my own life before I allowed them to take yours" he said as tears ran down his cheeks, Sakura felt horrible "You are the reason I live for Sakura Chan, if anything were to happen to you, then I would have no reason to keep going on"

Sakura had a small tear roll down her cheek, but she put up a brave front and smiled "I understand, you want me to fall behind with the villagers as they evacuate right?"

Naruto was surprised "If I knew you were safe, then I could fight without any worries…"

"Alright, for you, I will stay back and protect the villagers while you fight to protect us all" she said with a smile causing Naruto to regain his own smile "That's what I like to see, don't ever stop smiling Naruto Kun" she said as she kissed him "Well since they are going to attack us tomorrow, maybe we should go to bed and uh rest?" she said as she winked at him "After all, we don't know how long this fight will last, so we might not even see each other for a while, might as well make the best of the time we have together" She said with a grin "**CHA YEAH!! NARUTO GET IN THE BED!!**" Inner Sakura commanded

Naruto grinned at her "How could I ever refuse anything you ask of me?" he said

"Why would you ever want to refuse anything I ask you?" she said with an evil grin on her face as she dragged him into what had become there room now

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**End Chapter 20  
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Well the battle is close at hand, soon Konoha will be fighting for there lives, how will it turn out? find out soon

PS - About Sakura, please don't worry, there is a reason why i am setting her up the way i am, no she is not going to be a weakling, not at all, but she does need to be set up this way in order for my major plot to happen, and it should be coming in the next few chapters :)


	21. Chapter 21

Here is Chapter 21, hope you all enjoy it

and here is my responses to my reviewers

RSfan - lol well your name is being mentioned :P and thanks for the review, hope you like this new chapter

Ymere - Thanks for the review, and yeah, see, i hate to see things where you can predict exactly whats going to happen, whats the fun if your hero is so powerful that he can win without to much trouble? :P i like for them to have a hard time, the harder time they have, the more exciting it gets, take bleach for example "if you read the manga :P" the current chapters have ichigo pretty much screwed, there is NO WAY for him to win, however there must be a way, and thats what makes it fun to read :) so no matter how bad it looks, don't lose hope ;)

crsstlk - indead, if you guys are stuck wondering how are they going to pull out of this, then i have done my job, as i said to Ymere, knowing the outcome of the battle is borring ;) so thanks for the review and keep reading

Well thats all of them for this time, was kind of surprise to only see 3 reviews, i normally get more lol but its all good keep reading guys and keep those reviews comming

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 21  
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The day was nearing its end as the sun had begun setting, the ninja's of Konoha were on high alert and Naruto was looking out his office window. Sakura was standing by with a team of ninja's to evacuate the people, the only reason they had not begun yet was in the event it was a false alarm, hours passed and the sun had turned red as it got lower and lower, a group of ANBU ninja came running from the forest screaming they were coming as they ran pass the gates

"Sound the alarm and begin the evacuation, shut all gates, have all defenders get ready" Naruto ordered without losing anytime

One of the Ninja's began hitting a large bell continuously indicating to begin the evacuation; the ninja's at the entrance began shutting the large gates as multiple ninja's began filling the top of the walls, ready to defend their homes and loved ones

Sakura and her team had begun helping the people evacuate to safety, everything was going smoothly. Naruto overlooked from the top of the fire tower giving out his orders, suddenly they could see the dust rising in the distance indicating something big was coming

"Hokage Sama, the evacuation is just about over, most of the citizens are safely making their way into the mountains" Shikamaru said calmly

"Good, Shikamaru, what do you think our odds are of fighting them off?" He asked him

"Honestly, there are too many unknowns, the only people who have seen them fight and survive are Yamato and Shizune, but if I had to make a guess from a numbers point of view, the odds are not good sir, the only thing we have going for us it the fact that we have our defences"

"Then we have to find a way to survive long enough for Gaara and the sand re-enforcements to arrive, how far away are they?"

"They are a few hours away; I estimate they will arrive in just over six hour's sir"

"Then we have to hold out for six hours, I think we can manage that" he said with confidence

"But our death toll will be high" Shikamaru said sadly "It will be hard to recover if we are able to fight them off"

Suddenly a Ninja joined them making Naruto smile slightly "Ero-Sanin!" Naruto simply said

"I wish you would stop calling me that" he said slightly annoyed, but it only made Naruto's smile grow wider "This is for you Naruto" he said handing Naruto a Katana, Naruto was puzzled

"For me?" He asked

"This is the sword your father used when he was younger to train, he never adopted the sword as his weapon, but during my time training him, I taught him that he should be able to fight with any weapon as if it was his own, so if he was ever in a situation where he couldn't pick his weapon of choice, he could still fight, and so now this is yours" he said with a smile "I know you haven't done a lot of training with Katana's but I know you will find a way to use it at your advantage, their leader has a rather large Katana of his own, and you will have a better chance at defending yourself with this rather then a simple Kunai" he said

Naruto could only stare at the sword, he couldn't believe he was holding something his father held before him, and trained with "Thank you Ero-Sanin" he said simply as he attached the Katana to his back

three more ninja's joined them on the tower "Team Naruto, reporting for duty Sensei" Yuki said

"Naruto Nii-San, what can we do to help?" Konohamaru asked

"I thought I told you guys to stay with the villagers!"

"Naruto Sensei, we want to do our part to protect the village" Hanabi said

"Yeah, you know we can fight, we are chunin after all, and we are Team Naruto!" Yuki said with pride

"You have a fine team there Naruto, don't underestimate their power, remember how you were at their age" Jiraiya said with a smile

"He isn't that much older than us anyway" Konohamaru said with a grin

"Fine, fine I get it, but you have to promise me, you will stay away from anyone wearing a white cloaks, or the armbands, those people are too strong for you guys, do you understand?" he said seriously

They all nodded knowing better then to disagree with him, even if Yuki thought she could take these so called captains

"I can see them!" Shikamaru suddenly said, Naruto looked at the horizon and he could see the first line of attackers clear the forest

"So it begins" Naruto said calmly

Ichigo was at the head of his forces with a huge grin on his face as Konoha came into view, he raised his hand in the air and dropped it giving his men the signal to get in position

Naruto was watching them from the top of the tower "What are they doing?" he wondered

"They are not going with their plan!" Shikamaru suddenly realized and spoke up "they are surrounding us; they are going to make a major assault from all sides!"

"What? They must have decided it would be too risky to stick with their plan, Shikamaru can you devise a new strategy?" Shikamaru was already ahead of Naruto as he was deep in thought

"How can we defeat such a major attack from all sides with the forces we have? We may have the advantage of our defences and home field, but they have much greater numbers, victory is almost impossible, but we aren't really trying to get a victory are we? All we want is to hold them off for as long as we can until the sand forces arrive, taking that into consideration, we can afford to stretch our forces thin and keep the defences all around, this way, there is no way of us winning, but at least it should be able to hold them off long enough" he thought to himself "Hokage Sama, I believe the best solution is the simplest one, if we use our forces and protect every side, every inch of the wall, we stand a chance"

"But won't that make our forces thin?" Konohamaru asked

"I see what you're saying, you don't want us to win this battle, very clever" Naruto said while the rest of Team Naruto were in shock

"Naruto Sensei, how can you say or think such a thing!! We cannot lose!!" Hanabi said

Naruto smiled at them "Because, the plan is to hold them off, not win, once the sand gets here, we will be able to push them back" Naruto gave the order to begin spreading around the wall, and to do it as fast as they could

Meanwhile Ichigo was observing, wanting to see what they would do "Kurokage Sama, they are spreading across the wall"

"So they are trying to cover any holes in their defences huh? Very cleaver, but ultimately, stupid, it will only prolong the battle, the end result will be the same" he said with a grin "Namikaze Naruto, I look forward to our battle, I can only hope that you are stronger than your predecessor" he thought to himself with a grin, he looked at the moon that had just come out, it was still low in the sky, he turned to his forces "This is a big day for us, the day we take out the mighty leaf village, we are warriors of the night, let us bestow them with fear!!" they all cheered and raised their weapons in the air

Sakura was standing guard near the entrance, they had blocked, sealed and concealed it so no one would be able to find it, but they still had to be on their guards, with her was a squad of ANBU, that's all the villagers had to defend them, a little boy came up to Sakura and tugged on her clothing gaining her attention "Hey there little one, you shouldn't be here, you should be with your family"

The boy was crying, he couldn't have been more then 4 or 5 years old "I don't know where my mommy went" he cried

She picked him up and wiped his tears with a cloth, he had blue eyes and blonde hair, he looked slightly like Naruto she thought "Don't worry, we will find her together" she said with a smile on her face, the boy stopped crying and tried to smile a bit

"Thank you, you're very nice" he said

Sakura put him down and took his hand as they walked towards a group of villagers and she inquired about who the boy's parents were, they were able to help her locate the boy's parents

"Thank you so much for finding our son" The mother said "He has a habit of wondering off"

"Not a problem, just keep an eye on him, these are dangerous times"

"Yes of course, thank you again, Rito, thank the nice lady"

"Thank you pretty lady" the young boy said with a smile, Sakura bent down and looked at him and returned his smile before returning to her post, but before she could return, a women called out to Sakura

"Sakura hunny!" the women said

"Mom?" Sakura said

"Yes dear, I have been searching for you, I haven't been able to talk or see you in the past few weeks, you are always busy with something or searching for that dammed Uchiha, I was hoping to be able to see you more once he was caught, but I found myself not even seeing you once!" She said with a slight hint of sadness in her voice

"Sorry mom, it's just, I have been busy"

"I know dear, you're a very important and high ranking ninja, and I am very proud of you, but it would be nice if you could visit your old mother every once in a while"

"Yeah, after this is all over with, I will spend some time with you mom I promise"

"Just tell me, are the rumours true?" she suddenly asked

"What rumours?" Sakura asked confused, what kind of rumours was there about her?

"About you and the demon kid" she simply said

"What did you just call him?" She asked stunned that her mom had just called Naruto a demon, even after everything he had done for the village AND being the Hokage

"I heard horrible rumours that you were dating the demon boy"

Sakura snapped "Don't you EVER call him that EVER again, you will refer to him as Lord Hokage or Hokage Sama, you know NOTHING about him NOTHING! And for your information, he DOESN'T EVEN CARRY THE NINE TAILS INSIDE HIM ANYMORE! And if you must know, YES we are dating, and you know what mom? He makes me happy, he loves me and I love him, one last thing, I have changed my mind about what I just said, I won't be visiting you until you learn to respect others who deserve your respect" she simply said while turning her back to her mother and walked away leaving her mom in shock

Both sides were staring at each other, Naruto had joined the defenders, all along the wall there were arrows, spears, boxes full of Kunais, anything they could use as projectile weapons Kakashi walked up to Naruto, he had a box in his hands and gave it to Naruto "This is for you, I had it made a few years ago... On the day you convinced me you would become the Hokage"

Naruto opened the box, he was surprised, it was a replica of the Hokage's hat, except it was not red and white, it was orange and black "Kakashi Sensei…" Naruto said as he was speechless

"I figured I should give it to you now, you know, in case I am unable to give it to you latter if anything happened to me"

Naruto put the hat on his head, it went perfectly with the rest of his attire "Thank you Kakashi Sensei, and you will get through this, I know you will, you have too much life ahead of you" he said with a grin, but his smile didn't stay for long as he heard something, it was a battle cry

Ichigo had given the signal to attack as the men screamed as loud as they could, there battle cries could be heard from all over the city, the defenders got ready, they aimed their weapons, everyone was tense, the battle was about to begin, the only though on their mind, protecting their homes

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**End Chapter 21  
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Well the battle has finally begun, chapter 22 should be very eventful, as will the next few chapters, so keep reading, the major plot that i was talking about coming soon ;) still a few chapters away but i can't wait to use it, anyway, read, rave, review


	22. Chapter 22

And so the battle begins! Chapter 22 has arrived, hope you all enjoy :)

Where are all my reviewers ? :( well nothing i can do other then respond to the ones who did review and hope i get more soon :P

xzavx - the only way to find out if your bad feeling is right is to keep reading ;) Thanks for the review :D

naru-ca-titan - unfortunately, in war, people die :(. and really?! that would be great, i can't draw to save my life!!... well i can do stick men!! :D but that's about it lol i would love to see what you would come up with :) and of what or who as well, i look forward to seeing more reviews from you, as well as that fan art if you decide to do it :) Thanks for the review

That's all of them, keep them coming guys, now on with the story

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 22  
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Konoha Defenders were throwing everything they had at the charging enemy, archers were shooting arrows, others were throwing spears or kunais, however, no one did a better job than Tenten, she had prepared for this battle for the past few days, she had 100's of weapons scrolls filled to the maximum, however a few of them reach the walls and began to climb, some of the Konoha defenders hurried to the edge and poured large buckets full of burning tar, causing the ones who had made it to the walls to fall down in pain as the tar stuck to their skin, but a few had gotten to the top and began attacking the defenders

Ichigo and his eleven captains were looking from a distance, they had not attacked themselves wanting to see what the Konoha's defenders could do first as they analyzed their defence "That one defender is shredding our forces before they can get anywhere's near the walls on the east side, she must be dealt with Kurokage Sama" Renji said, wearing the number three on his back

"I agree, but we should concentrate our attacks on the west side for now since there defenders are now busy fighting with the few who got through, shift our forces to concentrate on that side, send in the second wave" he ordered

A second wave of attackers began screaming as they began their attack, Naruto was guarding the north side, which was the main gate, he had noticed that they had switched their attacks to the west side, he wanted to order additional forces to go, but he had no one to spare, sending anyone to that location would open up holes in their defences for them to strike at "Kakashi, keep this place safe, I am going to help them out on the west side since we can't afford to send anyone else"

"As you wish Hokage Sama"

Naruto hurried as he ran as fast as he could

Meanwhile inside the city, there was a small patrol marching around the village, making sure no enemy had gotten through from somewhere else, they heard something, it sounded like a crying child "I thought all the villagers had safely been evacuated" one of them said

"We must have somehow missed one" One of the female members of the group said as they made their way to the source of the crying, they found a small kid that looked about ten years old, he had green eyes and his hair was almost as white as snow "Aww, it's a little boy, where are your parents little one?" she asked

"I don't know, I was playing at the lake trying to catch a butterfly when I heard the big bell ring, but I didn't know what it was so kept on trying to catch the butterfly, but when I came to show it to my mommy, she was gone" he said while showing them the butterfly tears still rolling down his cheeks

"Aww your so cute, your parents must be with the others in the shelter, come, I will take you to them, I am sure they are worried sick" she said with a smile

"Ayuke, I don't know, everyone was evacuated, no one mentioned that they were missing a child" one other others members said

"Oh come on, he is just a kid, I am sure his parents were hoping that he would be at the shelter, you guys keep patrolling, I will take him to the shelter" she said as she smiled at the small boy and took his hand as they began to walk towards the mountain "What's your name little one?" she asked

"My name is Hitsugaya" he said while smiling a bit at the girl's kindness

"That's a pretty name" she said as they continued walking, his smile turned into a grin when she wasn't looking

Back at the gates Naruto had joined in the battle pushing back the enemies on the west side

"Their leader has moved to help them defend the west side sir" one of the captains told Ichigo

"It was to be expected, prepare two more waves, concentrate on the north and west, have the vice captains lead the charge, it's time we stop playing around, once they are launched, prepare next 2 waves, lead by captains"

"Yes Kurokage Sama"

"Kisuke, is the 12th division almost ready?" Ichigo asked

"Yes Kurokage Sama, we have gathered the chakara needed in order to destroy the main gate, we just need to  
safely arrive at the gate" the 12th division captain responded

"Have your division ready to move out after the captains lead their attack, the defenders should have their hands full with our attacks, leaving your team the time they need to take out that gate, plus I will join you"

"Understood Kurokage Sama" He responded

Naruto had his hands full as well as the rest of the west side defenders, they had kept the line from breaking, but they wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, that's when he heard the screams of another wave of attackers, and it was a large one, but what made it even worst was seeing that it was vice captains leading the charge, Naruto knew that the line would NEVER be able to hold out against such a force, suddenly he heard someone shout out "Amaterasu!" A large chunk of the battlefield was now burning in the black fire that is Amaterasu, most of the charge being lead by the vice captains were burning as they screamed in pain, they tried to put the fires out, but to their horror it wouldn't go out, the vice captains were lucky enough to avoid the fire, they had fallen back seeing this new threat, Naruto turned around and to his surprise behind them stood Uchiha Itachi, however he was not wearing his Akastsuki cloak, but his old Konoha Junin outfit, and his headband no longer had a mark indicating he had abandoned his home village, but Naruto didn't know what to think, or do, he took up a defensive position, he had had too many encounters with Itachi in the past to be caught off guard

"Hokage Sama, please allow me to help" he said as he got down on one knee and bowed his head awaiting Naruto's response

"How do I know I can trust you?" he asked him, Shizune joined them as fast as she could

"Hokage Sama, he isn't an enemy! Look I will explain everything about him once we get through this, but I assure you that he can be trusted"

Naruto looked at Itachi again "Get up, if she says I can trust you, then I will trust you" he said as Itachi raise his head

"Thank you Hokage Sama" he simply said as he got back up and began to fight alongside the Konoha defenders

"What the hell was that!?" Ichigo asked as he saw his vice captains return with whatever few Ninja's had survived

"We are sorry Kurokage Sama, whatever that attack was devastated our men, even the ones who survived and tried to put out the fire on the screaming men caught on fire themselves unable to put it out" the vice captain wearing the 5th division armband said

"So they want to play dirty huh? Well it's time we begin to play dirty as well, join the captains in the next assault, inform them that we have a change of plans, tell them to hit the north gate as hard as they can, while they keep them busy up there, we will use the 12th division and blow that gate wide open, once we are inside, they will have no choice other than fighting us face to face" he said slightly annoyed at the stiff resistance the Leaf was putting up, it had already been 2 hours and they had yet to penetrate the defences

The Captains launched their attack, being very careful to avoid the black fire that was still burning, they, along with the vice captains raised one hand up and began shouting out in unison "Way of destruction, blue fire lvl 50!" multiple fire shots were flying towards the defenders, hitting a few and killing them, but most had taken cover, this was the chance they needed to climb the wall without getting hit, a large chunk of their forces made it up, including most of the captains and vice captains and had begun fighting the defenders, Kakashi raised his hand in the air as he begun to gather chakara

"CHIDORI!" he screamed as he ran in a straight line taking out at least 10 of the enemy ninja's

Meanwhile Ichigo and the 12th division had made their way to the gate entrance and began chanting an incantation as the defenders had no idea they were down there, they were too busy fighting off the major attack, Kisuke smiled as they had just finished the incantation all he had to do was finish the spell "Way of destruction, red, blue, yellow exploding force, level 100!" everyone got back as a very large beam of light left Kisuke's hand and hit the gate, seconds later the gate exploded into pieces, Ichigo smiled, things were going to change drastically in this battle, he lifted his hand in the air giving the signal for all forces to run inside, the rest of the forces that were staying back in reserve began running towards the gate

Naruto had seen the explosion and looked down in horror as the gate had been destroyed; they would not be able to stay on the walls anymore, he had to give the order to fall back and continue fighting inside the village, he was happy that the villagers were in a safe location

Back inside the mountain, Ayuke had arrived at the entrance to the shelter, but the boy could see nothing and wondered why they stopped walking "What's going on?" he asked

"We have arrived" She simply said with a smile

But there was nothing there, just a dead end, could she have figured him out? He suddenly thought

"We are using a gengutsu to hide the entrance, don't worry I can cancel it" she began making hand sighs "CANCEL!" suddenly an entrance appeared, it was blocked by a large bolder, she continued to make a few hand sighs and put her hand against the bolder, it began to move slowly "See, now let's go find your parents" she said with a smile

"I am sorry, but we must part ways here" he said with a cold yet calm voice

"What's the matter Hitsugaya?" she asked puzzled

"My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya, 10th division captain of the night country, you have been very helpful, thank you" he said as he hit her with frightening speed, knocking her out instantly, he then ripped off the clothing he had, revealing his black kimono and white cloak under them along with his Katana "Haruno Sakura, your time has come" he said as he walked inside the shelter

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**End Chapter 22  
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Well the battle is about to become heated, now they will be forced to fight face to face rather then on the wall, who will survive and who will die? will Konoha be able to hold on long enough for the sand re-enforcements? Or will the night country stand victorious, only one way to find out ;) Read, Rave, Review!


	23. Chapter 23

Well this is my largest chapter so far, almost 4000 words! an additional note, as i noticed quite a few of you have never watched or seen Bleach, i figured it might be good if you knew what the captain's looked like, so in my profile, i remade it with information on each captain and pictures of them, i hope it helps you visualize what they actually look like :)

Alright well here is my favorite part once more, responding to the reviewers

naru-ca-titan - Sasuke will make his appearance in the next chapter, do not worry about him ;) i don't want to say to much, but look forward to it :) thanks for the review :D

Ymere - Well i hope this ending is better then the last one :) and about her getting captured, well you will have to read the chapter, also read my author notes at the end as well, thanks for the review, hope you enjoy this chapter :)

crsstlk - Thanks a lot for the review, yes, Sasuke will be making his apperence in the next chapter, and he will be face to face with his brother at some point, so it will be interesting ;) As for Sakura, your going to have to read this chapter ;) indeed, St-Patricks day is coming up this week :D so happy St-patties day everyone

chickenman00712 - Thanks for the review, hope you enjoy this large chapter :D

RSfan - he could indeed, but there was a large chunk of attackers on the top of the wall including multiple captains, he had his hands full, and uh lets just say that its a plot hole that i can only explain by him fighting on the top :P hope your not to disapointed, and thanks for the review

Well that's all of them, so on with the show, chapter 23, the great battle is next!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 23  
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Sakura was walking around the shelter, making sure everyone was alright and taking care of minor medical issues, she began to walk back to her post when a voice called out to her "Sakura hunny…"

Sakura didn't even bother turning back to face the one calling out to her "Go away, I don't want to talk to you, I have more important things to worry about right now other then you" she said in a cold voice

"Sakura… Please forgive me, I love you, I don't want to lose you, you're my only daughter, I only want what's best for you…"

"No you don't, you want what you think is best for me, you never tried to stop me from loving Sasuke, yet he was obviously a bad choice for me, even though I realize now I never loved him, it was just a silly girl crush, its true I wouldn't have listened to you, but that's what teenagers do anyway, my point is that you don't know anything about Naruto, I bet you don't even know who his father is do you? I bet you don't even know he is not even an Uzumaki, maybe if you knew who he really was, then you would be all happy about us, but you know what? I fell in love with him BEFORE I knew"

Sakura's mother's heart was breaking, she wanted to hold her daughter, but knew she would be rejected on the spot and would only end up pushing her further away "I know who he is, I was at the emergency gathering, I am sorry hunny, please give me another chance"

"No, because I am not the one who you need to apologize too, once this is over and Naruto saves us from this threat, you are going to go to him, get on your knees and beg for his forgiveness, even if he had no idea why, I will NOT forgive you until you do, this should teach you to talk about others behind their backs about things YOU don't know anything about" Sakura walked away in anger, not giving her mother the chance to respond

She returned to her post not even noticing that her squad was missing, she was too angry with her mother at the moment, however she did feel that the room was very cold, she could even see her breath as the hot air from her lungs exited her mouth and met the cold air "Why is it so cold all of a sudden?" she wondered, that's when she looked around and noticed she was alone "Where is everyone?!"

"Haruno Sakura, I am here to take you away" a voice from the darkness came

Sakura looked around but saw no one, that's when she noticed the entrance had been opened "Someone got in?! But how! Only Konoha ninja's know about the entrance and how to open it" she wondered "And what happened to my squad!"

"I would really like it if you came without a fight, I don't like to hurt people if I don't have to" the voice came again

"You think that I am going to just surrender? I know about your plans to take me as a hostage and force Lord Hokage to stand down, I won't let that happen!"

"All we want is to prevent more killing, you have lost this battle, but we know you will keep fighting until the end, your capture will ensure a stop to the fighting and 100's of lives saved"

"We will NEVER bow down to you, I will never surrender" she said with anger

"I was truly hoping that you would at least consider my offer, but so be it"

Someone walked out of the shadows, but Sakura was in shock, it wasn't what she was expecting, it was just a small boy, a kid, his hair was white as snow and his eyes were teal green, however, he wore the clothing of an enemy captain, but how could such a child be so powerful?

He got into a fighting stance as Sakura got into a defensive one, without warning he disappeared from her sight, he was now behind her and tried to hit her from behind, but she was barely able to get out of the way "Damn he is fast, I can't underestimate him, even if he is just a kid" she thought to herself as she turned to face him again, he had yet to show any emotion on his face, Sakura had noticed that he had yet to take out his weapon, maybe he thought he didn't need it against her? Well she was going to show him that she wasn't someone to take lightly, she began making hand signs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" she screamed out as four clones of herself stood by her side, they all began to gather chakara in their legs as they launched their attack with speed

Toshiro began dodging the multiple attacks from all sides, his speed made it easy as her punches were predictable, suddenly he felt sharp pains from multiple areas, he jumped back as he felt one of his cheeks and blood was dripping out, the Sakura clones were satisfied with the result of their attack as chakara radiated from their hands

"Tell me, do all medical ninja resort to that tactic?"

"What?" She asked as she had noticed a cut on his other cheek that looked like it had been done recently

"You're the second medical Ninja I have fought, and she used the same tactic on me when she couldn't hit me" he said while checking out his other injuries as the clones has struck a few places on his body, but nothing major

Sakura knew there were very few medical ninja's capable of controlling their chakra well enough to use the scalpel as a weapon during a battle, to her knowledge, only three were capable, herself, Shizune and Tsunade "Tell me, what color hair was the last medical ninja you fought against?" Sakura asked wanting an answer

"She was blonde, what does it matter?" he responded

"You! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KILLED HER!"

"What…" But he didn't have the time to finish his sentence as Sakura launched an all out attack driven by her anger

Somehow her attacks had become faster, driven by anger and hate, Toshiro felt multiple sharp pains and finally Sakura hits him with all her power sending him flying into the cave wall, he fell down to the ground coughing up blood as Sakura was standing panting, Toshiro got back to his feet and finally took out his Katana, blood was dripping from his mouth "I did NOT kill her, I only fought her long enough to allow our lord Kurokage time to recover so he could continue his fight with her"

"I don't CARE, you were still a part of the reason that she died! And for that you will pay!" she said with anger as the clones took out a Kunai and launched another attack, Toshiro began concentrating his own energy into his Katana and launched an attack of his own, he hit both of Sakura's arms with a clean slice, she had lost all feelings to them, she feared that they had both been cut off, but she looked at her arms, and to her surprise, they were encased in a prison of ice, she tried to break the ice off against the aground, but it was harder then rock

"It's useless, that ice is full of my energy, there are only two ways for it to come off, I allow it, or you defeat me"

Sakura was in trouble, this ice would stop her from doing any new jutsu, she still had her clones for now, but if they were to get dispelled, she would be left with nothing

Meanwhile Naruto was standing in front of Ichigo, both of their cloaks were flapping in the wind "Namikaze Naruto, I have been waiting a long time to fight you" Ichigo said with a grin

"You seem to know a lot about me, yet I know nothing about you, kind of seems unfair doesn't it?" Naruto answered back

"Well let me educate you, I am Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurokage of the night country and hidden moon village, I will be the one to kill you and take over your village, and the fire nation, just like I did the water and wave nations"

"The Leaf village and Fire Nation will NEVER bow down to you!" Naruto said in anger

"I don't require for your pathetic people to bow, only to serve me and the night" he said with a grin "However you won't be one of them; you are too much of a risk to be left alive" Naruto had heard enough, he took out his father's Katana and got into a fighting position "So, you think you can best me in a fight of blades? Don't make me laugh!" he said as he took out his own Katana

Both of them launched an attack as their weapons clashed, Naruto got down and tried to slash at his lower torso but Ichigo blocks it with ease, Naruto jumps back trying to figure out a way to beat a man who uses his Katana like it was an extension of his body, when he had just begun using his own "Maybe with some shadow clones, I could be able to get some hits on him" he thought to himself, with speed he made the hand signs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" there were suddenly nine clones, but to Naruto's surprise, the Katana itself didn't replicate, but he didn't have any time to think about it, he instructed them to take out a Kunai and begin their attack trying to get a hit on him, but Ichigo used his speed, and in a blink of an eye, all of the clones were gone, Naruto couldn't believe how fast this guy was, but he recognize that movement, when Ichigo came to attack him with the same speed, Naruto was able to counter it with ease

Ichigo was speechless, no one from this part of the world had ever matched their speed, but Naruto was able to, all he could see was a blur of yellow and orange as Naruto moved around

"Well, you have skills, that's for sure, but your speed is no match for mine" he said as he drew his sword in front of him and "BAN-KAI!" he screamed out, smoked filled the area, once it was cleared, Ichigo stood in front of Naruto in his ban-kai form

"So what's the big deal? It looks like your wearing rags and your blade got smaller?" Naruto said as Ichigo smiled

"It amuses me how you know so little about my powers, yet you can find time to mock them, I will wipe that smile off your face, just try and keep up long enough to give me a challenge" he said as he disappeared out of Naruto's sight, he attacked Naruto from all sides, he was barely able block the attacks, Ichigo finally got pass his defence and cut him deep in one of his arms, Naruto backed away, even with his own speed, his arm was throbbing with pain, Ichigo grinned at him "No one can match my ban-kai's speed and power, your just lucky I didn't slice it clean off"

"Heh, you think that I have been fighting you with my full power? I was testing you, wanting to see what you could do, and if this is the best, well I think I can take you out" He said with a grin, but he still had not figured out how to unleash the Kyuubi mode, in the past it was only done when he lost control of his emotions, suddenly Naruto found himself in the so very familiar sewers, but this time there were no gates, and a small version of the fox sat in front of Naruto

"Where are we? I thought I released you from here" he said

"You did release me my lord, but I know that you have been trying to access my powers, and I wanted to help you"

"Not that I am not appreciating what your trying to do, but out of curiosity, why? If I die, wouldn't you be free again?"

"No my lord, the terms of the contract would still stand, if you are thinking I could go back to attacking randomly again, I would still need someone to order me to, and I am very particular about who I allow to sign the contract, as you could see, you are only the third person to sign it"

"Well, I guess that's great, so then, let's get this going, how do I access your powers?"

"It is simpler then what you may think; you use to do it before, just unconsciously by your emotions"

"Alright, so tell me then"

"Visualize my power, until you see my red chakara flowing though your body, and then release it"

Naruto closed his eyes and calmed down, he thought it was odd since he would normally be losing control of his emotions to get into the Kyuubi state, he breath in and out slowly, as he concentrated on the red chakara, he could see it, he could feel it, it was filling his system

Ichigo was looking at Naruto with curiosity, a red aura had begun surrounding his body, his eyes were closed and he seemed to be concentrating on something, he figured it would be a good time to finish this fight once and for all, he began running as fast could, ready to cut Naruto's head off with his next strike

Suddenly Naruto opened his eyes, a wave of pure chakara radiated from him as he grabbed Ichigo's Katana with his hand, and his wound was healing at extreme rate, Ichigo backed off and took a good look at him, his eyes had somehow turned from blue to red, his K9 teeth had turned into fangs, and his nails into claws "What the hell did he do?" Ichigo wondered

Naruto grinned, he had done it, he had tapped into the Kyuubi's powers without losing himself in the process, he could feel the power pumping through his body "You look surprised, I told you that I was holding back" he disappeared from Ichigo's sight. For the first time in his life, he had lost sight of his enemy, how could that be possible? Suddenly he felt a presence behind him "You look scared Kurokage, could it be that for the first time, you have realized that you're not as powerful as you may think you are?" Ichigo turned around as fast as he could, but he found no one, he swung his blade hoping to catch Naruto behind him, but there was no one there

"You think you have this won? You should know that you're not the only one holding back on your powers" he said as he looked up at the sky and the moon, it was almost midnight, Naruto appeared in front of him

"It's pretty sad when you resort to bluffing, if you would have been able to hit me, you would have done so"

"Heh, you are full of yourself aren't you? Get the upper hand slightly in a battle and you think you have it won? You're not the only one who is hiding a trump card, why do you think we attacked at night? Why do you think we are called the hidden moon village?"

"Because you excel at night combat?" Naruto answered

"Of course, but also because the moon gives us strength, and on a night such as this, with a full moon, when the moon is at its highest point in the sky at midnight, we attain our full potential!" he said as suddenly he was radiating power with a black aura around him as the clock reached 12:00AM

Naruto wasn't convinced, he figured it was a last ditch attempt at trying to get him to back down "If what you say is true, then you're going to be able to stop this next attack" Naruto concentrated his chakara into his legs and began running with his Katana in hand, Ichigo grinned, he could see him, he could now fallow him, he lifted his blade to counter it, Naruto backed off when he realize it wasn't a bluff

"Well then, this makes things interesting, I am happy to see that you're going to be a challenge after all" Naruto said with a grin they launched an attack on each other, they clashed against each other relentlessly, around them some of the fighters had stopped fighting, even one of the Captains was in awe at the battle

"How can anyone stand toe to toe with our Kurokage when he is in his ban-kai on a full moon night?" He had to dodge an attack as Itachi almost struck him

"You don't have any time to be admiring our glorious Hokage defeat your Kurokage, your opponent is me!"

Meanwhile Toshiro and Sakura were still fighting, all the clones had been taken out and Sakura's hands were still imprisoned inside their ice prison and unable to summon any more clones to help her, she was panting heavily, but so was Toshiro, he was surprised at her resilience she launched an attack at him concentrating chakara once more into her legs and arm as she connected with his chest, sending him crashing once more into the cave walls even harder than before, Sakura grinned, although she wasn't able to do hand signs anymore, she could still use the hardness of the ice as a weapon, add her own chakara and power, they became deadly weapons

Toshiro was on the verge of unconsciousness "How can she be so strong?" he wondered as he got back to his feet barely able to stand, but he was a captain, he couldn't lose

Sakura could see that he was only running on adrenaline, her next move was going to end this as she planned to knock him out, she had no intention of killing him, she just wanted the use of her hands again, but suddenly she felt something around her "Ban-Kai.." another voice said, Sakura found herself wrapped up by some sort of large snake, she couldn't fight her way out of it, its skin was like steel, and even had large blades coming out of it

"Toshiro, what the hell have you been doing? You were suppose to capture her and bring her to our Kurokage as fast as possible" a red haired man said as he walked into the shelter, to Sakura's surprise, the snake seemed to originate from his hand, no wait, was that a Katana of some sort? The man also had a white cloak with the number three on it, indicating to her that he was also a captain, she kept on trying to struggle out of the snakes grasp "It's useless to fight it, this is my ban-kai, the harder you struggle, the tighter the grip will get, and Toshiro, the Kurokage will be disappointed in you, you're supposed to be the strongest one of us next to him" Sakura was surprised, that kid was the strongest? But she was almost able to defeat him "If you would have released your ban-kai on her, you could have finished this in seconds, but your too soft, you even spared the lives of those guards and some women I found at the entrance, don't worry, I killed them for you"

"What?! There was no need for you to kill them; they had been taken care of!" Toshiro said in anger

"Just like you had this bitch taken care of? She was about to defeat you! I don't know why the Kurokage likes you so much, sure your strong and powerful, but your still just a little kid who is afraid of hurting others, now let's go, Kurokage Sama is fighting their leader, we may need to use her since he seems much more powerful then we first thought"

"Whatever…" Toshiro said annoyed at Renji

Sakura's mom wanted to find Sakura, she felt horrible and wanted to try and clear things, she was horrified to see her daughter caught in the grasp of that metallic snake "Sakura?!"

Renji suddenly stopped and turned back, he made the head of his blade attack Sakura's mother "MOM RUN!" Sakura said, but she was in shock, suddenly Toshiro deflected the snake's head and stood in between Renji and Sakura's mom

"You will not kill an innocent villager, she isn't even a ninja"

"You're barely able to stand, what makes you think you can take me on little Toshiro"

"I may be hurt and wounded, but I will not allow you to kill for no reason, if you want to push your luck with me then fine, Ban-K…" but Renji stops him before he could finish his sentence

"Alright, alright, I get it, let's just go, we don't have any time to waste anyway"

Toshiro lowered his blade as he followed him out of the shelter

"DOUBLE RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted out as in one hand he had a blue rasengan and in his left a red one, Ichigo was barely able to get out of the way as Naruto hits a building, destroying it in the process

They both began to pant as they were both tired from the fighting, Ichigo stood across from Naruto, he bit his thumb to Naruto's surprise and began making hand signs, it was the first time he had ever seen anyone of them use a jutsu, but if he was drawing blood, then it only meant one thing, he bit his own thumb and began making his own hand signs, they both hid the ground at the same time

"summoning jutsu" they both shouted out together, a huge dust cloud was released, no one could see anything, once it was cleared, everyone was in shock, they were expecting to see Naruto on top of Gamabunta, but instead he was on top of the Kyuubi while Ichigo was on top of a giant black wolf

"Let's do this" Naruto simply said with a grin

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Well wow, that was indeed my largest chapter, and yes i know Sakura was captured in the end, but like i said, it is to make the next part of the story work, i hope her battle was good for you guys, but she has like no jutsu's for battle so its hard, thats why her fight was mostly physical, except for that one jutsu that "**I**" gave her myself, witch was the shadow clone, that's assumed Naruto tough her :P anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, read rave review :D


	24. Chapter 24

This is a smaller chapter then the last, but i really had fun making it, for those who have waited, and waited for someone to arrive, well he has ;)

Now for the reviews

Ymere - Thanks for the review, just read this chapter, i hope it makes you feel better about her, this was why she had to get captured, it was a setup for this chapter

crsstlk - Thanks for the review, Sakura's battle was indeed a good one, it was a challenge since when i looked at her list of jutsu, she has no offensive jutsu at all, except for the shadow clone jutsu i gave her :P but i think i did a good job, as for Naruto and his nine tail powers, right now, he just unlocked the basic mode, he hasn't had the time to think about anything else

naru-ca-titan - Thank you, wow, i feel all warm and fuzzy inside, thank you so much :), please keep reading as i hope you continue to enjoy my story

well that's everyone for today, on with the show

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 24  
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Toshiro and Renji were just standing on one of the buildings with Sakura still in Renji's grasp, they had stopped as they couldn't believe what their eyes were seeing, the Kurokage's black wolf and a huge fox with nine tails "Is he really powerful enough to force Kurokage Sama to use his summon?" Renji asked in awe of the battle taking place in the distance while Sakura was also staring at the sight, Naruto had grown so strong, but she never would have imagined he would be that strong, now he controlled the Nine Tail foxes power

"**That's right; show them whose boss Naruto! Now if only we could get away from these brutes**" Inner Sakura screamed out, suddenly Renji felt a presence, but before he could do anything, something from the shadows struck Toshiro sending him crashing to the ground, with his wounds and injuries, it was enough to knock him out, Renji tried to find out where the attack came from, or where the attacker had ran off to

"Come out you coward and face me like a man!" He demanded

A voice from the darkness responded back "This coming from a guy who has a girl as a hostage, real manly" from the darkness Renji could see two red eyes, they sent a chill down his spine "Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!" a huge fireball came from the direction of the eyes, Renji had to think quickly, he didn't have time to do anything else, he released Sakura and used his sword to surround himself for protection, the snake like sword took the brunt of the attack, Sakura landed on her feet and got into a defensive stance on instinct alone, suddenly four more ANBU joined them and surrounded Renji

"It would seem that I am at a disadvantage, 6 against one huh?" He said as he hid his grin

"Actually, try more like 9 against one" another voice came from a building just behind them as Yuki, Konohamaru and Hanabi jumped to Sakura's side

"You're kidding right? Kids? HA!" Renji said trying not to laugh

"What's so funny? He is a kid!" Konohamaru said pointing at the downed Toshiro

"Yeah well, he is a freak of nature, he can control ice itself" Renji responded back

"Well I don't know anything about ice, but how do you like earth?" Yuki said with a grin as she quickly made a few hand signs causing parts of the building to turn into earth and attack Renji, he easily deflected it with his ban-kai

"Not bad kid, but you're still nothing compared to a captain"

"You sound confident, but are you really? You have all this power, but what if I told you that against me, it means nothing, look into my eyes and face me if you dare" the man in the darkness simply said

"Are you trying to say that your somehow going to beat me just by having me look into your eyes, that's ridicules" he said with a grin as he looked into the red eyes, they suddenly began spinning and Renji found himself in a field of flowers "Oh please, genjutsu? You think I can't break this?" he said as he tried to raise his hands, but he found himself unable too

"Welcome to my world, I control everything here, including the passing of time, we are going to get to know each other really, really well" a voice came out of nowhere yet sounded like it came from everywhere at once "Welcome to hell" the voice said coldly

Suddenly the field of flowers turned into flames and Renji could feel his body burning, yet his clothing or skin did not char, he could only feel the pain, the burning sensation, he was screaming as the pain became unbearable, but he wouldn't pass out, the flames lasted for what seemed like an entire week of non stop suffering then everything went black

Sakura was staring as Renji's Ban-kai receded back into his Katana as it fell to the ground, Renji himself fell onto his knees before passing out, the man in the darkness stepped into the light, and Sakura was in shock, although she already knew when she first saw the eyes, she still couldn't believe it

"Sakura, are you alright?" he simply asked her

"Sasuke? Is that really you?" she asked him

"Yeah…" Sasuke no longer had the outfit that Orochimaru had picked out for him, instead he wore a black outfit, very much like the one his brother use to wear at his age

"But how? I thought you were in your cell, you didn't break out did you?!" she suddenly asked him

"Of course not, these guys here are the guards, Naruto instructed them to let me out if I ever decided to…rejoin" he said as Sakura had finally noticed his headband, the blue clashed with the black of his outfit, that's when she realized, it was his old headband, the one Naruto brought back all those years ago "Are you alright?" he asked again since she had not answered him yet

She simply nodded, Sasuke had finally noticed her hands, and they were still encased inside their prison of ice

"I will assume since this guy said the small one controls ice itself, that he did this to you correct?" he asked simply as she nodded once more, still not sure what to think of the situation. Sasuke walked up to the white haired captain who had not moved, he took out his Katana from his back and was about to strike at him but Sakura shouted at him

"NO!" Sasuke stopped as it was about to reach the boy's neck "Don't kill him" she said pushing him away from the small boy

"What do you want us to do? He is too dangerous to leave alive, and he needs to be conscious for me to put into a coma"

"He is conscious…." She simply said "But you are not going to touch him!"

"He is conscious?" Sasuke asked "Then why did he not defend his friend, or try to stop me just now"

"Toshiro, was what he called you right? I know your still awake, you told me yourself, there is only two ways for this ice to come off, either you allow it to, or you are knocked unconscious, so I know you're not unconscious, please get up" she simply said

"Why couldn't you just let him finish me off…" Toshiro said in a sad tone of voice that surprised even Sasuke, why did this kid have a death wish? He wondered

"Because, I don't believe you to be a bad person, since you arrived here, I bet you never killed a single person, am I wrong?" Toshiro didn't respond, but Sakura knew she was right "And you stop this guy from attacking my mother back in the shelter"

Toshiro sat up, all of the ninja's surrounded him but Sakura walked over to the boy and bent down so she would be at eye level "why do you fight?" she simply asked him

"Because, my Kurokage and country need me, although I refuse to kill unless I have no choice, I cannot betray my people"

"Wow, he is so loyal to his country, even if it goes against his personal belief" Konohamaru said

"Yeah, and he's really cute too" Yuki said with a grin

"Do you find half the world male population cute or hot in some way?" Konohamaru asked slightly annoyed

"Yeah well, you're not!" she said as she stuck her tongue out at him

"What did you just say?!" Konohamaru responded shaking his fist

"Guys, we are in the middle of a war, can't your fight wait until latter?" Hanabi stated as Yuki and Konohamaru suddenly realize she was right

"Release her hands, or I will do to you what I did to him" Sasuke suddenly told the young Toshiro

"I am sorry, but I cannot" Toshiro got back to his feet with his Katana in hand "However, I am sorry but I cannot surrender to you, as a captain of the nigh country, I must fight until I am unable to continue" he said as he stared into Sakura's eyes

"Fine by me kid, I have to say, you are a true Shinobi, one that I respect, when I kill you, I will honour you by having you buried among our honoured dead, I am sure Naruto will agree with me" Sasuke said as he got into a fighting position

"NO!" Sakura suddenly said surprising everyone "You are not going to touch a single hair on his body, do you understand?"

"But Sakura, he isn't going to back down…" One of the ANBU said

"I know, that's why I am going to be the one who takes him out, you are not to interfere, do you understand?" she said sternly "We begun this fight, and we are going to end it!" She said as she got into a offensive position

Sasuke and everyone else got out of the way as the two prepared to do battle, Toshiro smiled as Sakura began her attack, just before she hit him as hard as she could, she heard him whisper something in her ear "Thank you..." he was then sent flying through the air, he went through a building and slammed into another, his body was now free falling, Sakura caught him before he could hit the ground, she laid him on the ground as his hand had dropped his Katana, the ice on her hands had begun to crack until they finally shattered into pieces and all feeling had returned

Sasuke and the rest of the group had joined her "I don't understand, you just ran straight at him he could have dodged it easily, he didn't even try to avoid it"

"Yeah, that's what he wanted, I believed that's what he was trying to do all along, even when we first began fighting, he didn't want to participate in this invasion, yet he couldn't disobeyed his Kurokage's orders, he was loyal to his country, but also loyal to his beliefs, this was the only way for him to not fight and yet not betray his people at the same time"

"Some would call him a coward for doing that, but I think that he is more of a shinobi then most of us" Konohamaru said which surprised everyone, especially Yuki who begun looking at Konohamaru with warm eyes

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**End Chapter 24  
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well That's the newest chapter, not as great at the chapter 23, but its hard to fallow up something like chapter 23 :P , Ymere, i hope you are happy with what i did with Sakura now :), if not, then i am sorry :/


	25. Chapter 25

Well here is the newest chapter! hope you all enjoy it!

Now for my reviewers :)

Sintar07 - Thanks for the review, always nice to see a new reviewer :) Sasuke at the moment is not really being an ass, but he is not exactly nice either, he is in between right now, but is starting to realize what an ass he has been ;)

naru-ca-titan - it is not stated, but Sakura did NOT kill him, she wanted to make sure he wouldn't be killed, that's why she did it herself, so i hope that makes you feel better :) and lol, i love your reviewers, they are always fun to read, it brightens my day to read them :D and i am also happy to know you are enjoying my story as well, thank you

Ymere - I am glad to see that i was able to regain your trust ;) everything i do has a purpose, everything is planned out, and i do all of this in my head ;) "i has a wild imagination :D" so next time you think you know what i have planned, just wait it out lol ;) thanks for the review

alright, that's everyone now for the main event, CHAPTER 25!!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 25  
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The black wolf and the Kyuubi were locked in battle, all around them, the buildings had been destroyed, reduced to rubble and dust as fires raged, but no one cared about that right now, all they cared about was surviving this, they were still outnumbered, and the night ninja's were gaining the advantage with their powers being amplified by the moon, but everyone knew, including the night ninja's that the winner of the battle between the Kage's would determine who would ultimately win this battle

The Wolf was clawing at the Kyuubi as he was biting at the wolf's neck, Naruto himself had jumped over onto the wolf and had continued his own battle with the Kurokage, there blades clashed as the metal of each Katana collided together, and both warriors were reaching their limit, Ichigo tried to use his flash step, which was moving at extreme speeds, but Naruto was able to fallow him every step of the way, Naruto tried to create shadow clones to help him, but every time they were unable to replicate the Katana and his Kyuubi powers, and they were dispelled within seconds

They were locked together, Naruto was using both his hands on his Katana to try and give him a better leverage, but Ichigo was able to push back, Ichigo suddenly let one of his hands off his Katana for a split second and recited a spell "Way of destruction, yellow fireball level fifteen!" a yellow fireball suddenly came out of his hand, Naruto didn't have the time to back off and block it, it hit him directly in the chest, sending him flying off of the wolf, the Kyuubi used one of its tails to catch Naruto before he fell to what would have been his death had he kept free falling head first into rubble that would have pierced his head upon impact, he set Naruto back on the top of his head "Are you alright my lord?" he asked him with genuine concern for his master

"Yeah, I guess it was a low level jutsu, it had more bark than bite, but it still hurt like hell" he said as he looked at the burnt marks on his clothing

Ichigo also returned to the top of his wolfs head; he smiled as he brought his Katana up "This ends now!" He said as he gathered his energy "Getsuga Tensho!" He said as he swung his weapon towards Naruto and the Kyuubi, a large energy force like nothing they had ever seen before was coming straight towards them.

there was no time to dodge, it looked like they would both die, Naruto was running on adrenaline, he had no idea what he was doing, it's like his body was acting on its own, he raised his own Katana in the air and shouted out "Hurricane force Rasengan!" his Katana glowed a bright blue as he swung it in the direction of the incoming energy force, the largest rasengan ball he had ever seen came out from the tip of his Katana, suddenly it became wrapped in a cocoon of wind, it almost looked like a hurricane in the form of a ball, Ichigo was amazed, how could that Katana have any powers "Unless he is… but that's impossible, yet would explain everything, his speed, his power and even his ability to use his sword" Ichigo thought to himself

The ball of power collided with Ichigo's energy attack, the resulting explosion was the biggest anyone had ever seen in their entire lives, it was even seen by the approaching wind re-enforcement and they were still over 3 hours away

Everyone within a quarter mile radius were sent flying from the force of the explosion, Ichigo got up from the ground, his black wolf looked like it was wounded as it took the brunt of the damage trying to protect its master "It's alright, you did good, rest now" Ichigo told his wolf, it bowed its head to him and disappeared, he was confident that his attack was more powerful then Naruto's and that he had won the battle

Everyone watching the fight were waiting for the dust to settle, what was the result of the attack? The dust began to settle, it was clear that the blast was huge as everything beyond that point had been reduced to rubble, the dust had finally cleared, and Naruto was nowhere in sight, all the villagers could see was the Kyuubi who had been knocked down and looked heavily wounded, some of the villagers even felt sorry for it, once feared by the village as the nine tail demon fox, was now their protector, but it seemed that even his power wasn't enough, and it appeared that Naruto had been killed in the explosion as he was nowhere to be found

"People of Konoha, your leader fought bravely, but he has fallen, unless you wish to all be wiped out, throw down your weapons, this battle is over, the Leaf village now belongs to the night country!"

The Konoha ninja's couldn't believe it, Naruto had really lost? And should they throw down their weapons and bow down to this tyrant?

"You may have defeated our Hokage, but you have not defeated our will of fire!" One of the ninja's shouted, everyone else from the leaf began to shout as well indicating that they would not bow down to him, they would fight until the very end

Sakura and the rest of her team couldn't believe it; tears were streaming down her cheeks "how could he lose? How could he be gone…"

"Naruto Nii-San" Konohamaru cried

"Those bastards, they are going to pay for this, let's avenge him, Team Naruto will NOT stand for this!" Yuki said with anger, but she couldn't keep up the tough act, even she was breaking up inside "Naruto Sensei…" she said finally breaking into tears of her own, Konohamaru held her as they cried together

Hanabi was having a moment of silence, she had a great deal of respect for her fallen Sensei, even if he was only their Sensei for the past week, she felt no one would ever be able to replace him

Sasuke had a smirk on his face as he stared at the Kyuubi who had not moved yet, this brought anger to Sakura "How can you be smiling at a time like this! Oh I get it, you don't care, right?" She said gritting her teeth almost ready to attack him

"Idiot" he simply said as a response

"What? Did you just call him an idiot?!" Sakura said, she had had enough, she grabbed Sasuke by the collar, she was about to punch him

"Not him, you, all of you" he simply said, Sakura looked at him puzzled

"What?!" She asked

"Who the hell is this guy?" Yuki asked, ready to join Sakura in beating him up

"You have already given up on him? You should have more faith in the Hokage of the leaf village, you should have more faith in Naruto…" he said simply Sakura didn't know what he was talking about "Just watch" he said as she let go of his collar and turned back to the battle

Ichigo was about to continue his attack against the resisting leaf ninja's, but before he could get far "Where are you going Kurokage? The stories about my death were greatly exaggerated" a voice came from behind him, Ichigo turned around, but nothing had changed, the Kyuubi had not moved, and Naruto was still nowhere to be found

"Where the hell is that voice coming from, he couldn't have possibly survived…"

Suddenly the Kyuubi's tails began to move, Naruto walked out from behind them, the Kyuubi had used his tails to surround Naruto, protecting him from the brunt of the explosion, at the cost of his own health "I am sorry my lord, this is the best I could do" the Kyuubi said as he remained motionless

"You have done a remarkable job, now go back home and rest" Naruto said as he petted the large furry eyebrow of the Kyuubi

"My lord, be safe" he said before he disappeared in a poof of smoke

"Yeah don't worry, I will make sure that you didn't suffer in vein" He told himself as he turned his attention back to Ichigo, although the fox tails had protected him from the brunt of the explosion, he had still sustained damage, blood was dripping from his mouth, he knew he had internal injuries, and that if this fight would keep going, he would lose for real

Sakura's face lit up as she saw Naruto still standing, she wanted to run towards him, but Sasuke stopped her "No, remember, if you get too close, there is a chance that you could be used against him, stay here, and trust in him" Sasuke said

"Sasuke…" she simply said "You really believe in him?"

"This is Naruto; of course I do" he simply said

"But why? Only a week ago, you were ready to kill him"

"He… Along with a lot of people, helped open my eyes to the truth around me" he said

Ichigo could not believe his eyes, how could this brat still be standing! "I guess it's to be expected from a fellow night country shinobi" he suddenly said

"What the?" Naruto said confused

"about sixty years ago, the night country launched an exploration team, it was only a few ships with about 100 ninja's per ship, back then we were just starting to become a power in the world, during the expedition a huge storm destroyed most of the ships, only 5 ninja's returned alive out of the 300 we sent, when we calculated where the ships had encountered the storm, it was near the shores of the fire country, obviously your ancestor joined with some ninja's of this side, generations latter, you were born"

"How the hell did you come up with a stupid story like that?"

"That Katana you're holding, it's no ordinary sword, it is a Zanpakuto of the night country, how can I tell? That last attack was a mix of your powers, and the powers of your Zanpakuto, also the way you fight with it, at the beginning you were sloppy, it was as if you had never used a Katana before, but as our fight progressed, you became more adept, as you made a connection with it, although you have yet to awaken its true powers and abilities, I have no doubt that your blood is that of the night country"

"Nice story, but I don't believe it, and even if it was, my loyalty is to the leaf and the fire Nation"

"Pity, you would have made such a great captain, then again, you are too powerful to be left alive" Ichigo said, but he didn't know how he would take him out, he had thrown everything he had at him, and he just kept getting back up "I only have one last trump card left" He thought to himself, he signalled one his captains to join him, a large man with an eye patch and the number eleven on his back joined him "Keep anyone from reaching me, I need to prepare for my next move"

"Yes Kurokage Sama" the captain simply said as Ichigo sat down and began to concentrate his energy

Naruto was joined by Itachi, Kakashi, Neji, and Shikamaru, everyone else was locked in combat and unable to aid their Hokage

"Are you alright Hokage Sama?" Itachi asked him

"Yeah, don't worry about me, these wounds appear worst then they are" Naruto lied to them; he didn't want to worry them and try to protect him rather than concentrate on fighting

"So what's the plan? It looks like he is waiting for us to make our move" Kakashi stated

"We outnumber him 5 to 1, whatever we do, we better be careful, I have a feeling he is stronger then we think if their leader is confident enough in his ability to protect him on his own" Neji said

"Yeah well I don't like whatever their Kage seems to be planning, I have a feeling it's going to be troublesome" Shikamaru stated

Suddenly the captain snapped "If they won't come to us, then I will go to them!" He shouted

The man with the number eleven on his back launched an attack, his target was Naruto, Naruto and his team were both surprised and shocked that he would attack them so carelessly, but he ran passed everyone and went straight for Naruto lifting his sword to try and strike him, Naruto lifted his blade to block the attack, but to his surprise he was sent flying backwards

"Holy…This guy's power is just…" Kakashi said as they regrouped around Naruto who was slowly getting up. The eleventh division captain whose name was Kenpachi had a sadistic smile on his face

"I don't care about you small fries, I want the strong one" Kenpachi said with a grin

"If it's me you want, then it's me you're going to get!" Naruto shouted as he launched an attack of his own, Itachi screamed out

"Hokage Sama, it must be a trap, don't fall for his trick!"

But Naruto was already swinging his blade at the lone captain, to everyone's surprise, he didn't try to block it or dodge it, Naruto's blade hit dead on his shoulder, but nothing happened, it's like his blade had hit a rock, Naruto jumped back as Kenpachi smiled, Itachi quickly made some hand signs and shouted out "Katon Gokakyu no Jutsu" a huge ball of flame envelope the smiling captain who once again did no attempts at moving in the slightest, Itachi stopped his attack and they all waited for the smoke and dust to clear

They were all in shock as they saw the lone captain still standing without a mark on his body, other than his clothing had burnt slightly "Is that the best you got? What a disappointment"

"This guy is a freak! Will nothing hurt him?" Shikamaru blurted out

"We don't have any time to be wasting on this guy, we need to get to their Kurokage before he releases whatever he is planning on releasing" Naruto said as he pushed everyone aside and began concentrating enormous amounts of chakara, although he was still in his Kyuubi state, he had depleted most of his chakara and was now relying almost solely on the foxes chakara "Kyuubi, lend me your power, I know you're hurting greatly right now, but we must win this battle" Naruto called to the Kyuubi, suddenly energy began to gather in his hand, it began to glow blue, then it went to red, and it finally changed to white, it was spinning wildly as it grew in size, Kenpachi was intrigued, he wanted to see the power that the Hokage had, Naruto raised his hand in the air as the white ball took the shape of a shuriken, Naruto got back along with the others "Futon Rasenshuriken!" He screamed out as he literally threw the glowing white ball as if it was a shuriken

Kenpachi realized how powerful it was, but it was too late to avoid it, all he could do now was bring up his katana to try and take the brunt of the attack, the explosion sent him flying through the air as he slammed against some rubble, he was bloodied and not moving, Naruto grinned as he panted from how tired he was "Take that you freak!"

Ichigo grinned as he opened his eyes "Nice show Hokage, but it's too little too late, I will recognize your power, you are indeed stronger then I am, if only slightly, however, it's not always the strongest who win, but sometimes the smartest, I am not going to kill you today, but someday" he said with a grin

Naruto was confused, what the hell was he planning? Naruto's escort jumped in front of him to protect their leader, they knew Naruto had used most of what he had left in chakara in his last attack, it was their job now to finish what he had started

"We will not allow you to touch our Hokage" Itachi said

"But it's already too late" He said with a grin as they turned around and noticed something was forming around Naruto, Itachi tried to push him out of the way but it only fallowed him, soon a sphere of energy had formed around him, and finally, it slowly faded away until it had totally disappeared

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Well that was that, hope you enjoyed it, and what happened to Naruto? Find out in the next chapter ;) "though i left a very small hint, can you find it? :D"


	26. Chapter 26

Well here is chapter 26, you finally get to find out what happened to Naruto :)

Now for my reviewers

crsstlk - Thanks for the review, i hope you enjoy this new chapter, that plot twist i was talking about a few chapter ago has finally arrived :P

RSfan - Thanks for your review, and the answer to your question is answered here ;)

naru-ca-titan - ah yes, typos, i make plenty of them :P that's why i keep re-reading and editing my own story, if you look now, you will notice it was fixed, and many other typos, an other one you might find from time to time before i catch it is not instead of now, i had one of those in 25 before i cought it :P its just me typing to fast and trying to get these stories out to you guys and making mistakes along the way lol, but its all good, i always end up catching them in the re-read ;) as for your reviews, there awesome, i don't understand why anyone wouldn't like them, there always fun to read and make me laugh sometimes, i can somehow picture you jumping randomly on your bed for no reason what so ever other then to just be doing it lol anyway keep those reviews coming :) and i hope you enjoy this chapter

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 26  
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Naruto could feel his body aching all over as the warm sun woke him up, his body had returned to his regular form as he had run out of chakara, he could feel his ribs hurting and he coughed out blood, he then sat up and looked around, where was he? He wondered, as he looked around him, all he could see was rubble and old abandoned buildings, he forced his body off the ground, feeling a great deal of pain, but he endured it, he walked around "Kakashi? Itachi? Sakura?... Anyone?!" Naruto screamed out, but no one answered "Where am I?" he began wondering as well "Could that jutsu of his have been a transportation jutsu?" he thought to himself, but he felt something was wrong, something didn't seem right, he continued his walk through the rubble, his body barely able to stand up, he finally saw something, it looked like a flag flapping in the warm breeze "That's a night country flag!" Naruto said as he recognize the moon image, and beside the flag was a large stone tablet, he walked up to it and began reading

"In memory of all the brave souls from both sides that died during the Moon-Leaf Shinobi War, may they find peace in the afterlife as we remember their sacrifice"

A large list of names was written on the tablet, mostly names that Naruto recognized, Hatake Kakashi, Akimichi Choji, Aburame Shino, Rock Lee, and many others, three quarter of this list were Leaf Shinobi, Naruto's eyes stopped on a name… Namikaze, Naruto (sixth and final Hokage of the leaf) Naruto's eyes couldn't believe what he had just seen, this had to be a nightmare, or genjutsu, yes, it had to be a trick, the Kurokage was playing with his mind, what kind of sick twisted game was he playing? He wondered, but his eyes kept scanning the tablet, he was searching for a specific name, the tablet was in alphabetical order, so it was easy for him to find what he wanted, his eyes stopped on the H's, but the name he was searching for wasn't there, he let out a sigh of relief, Haruno Sakura was missing from the tablet, meaning she didn't die here, if any of it turned out to be true anyway, he felt weak, the sun was hot and he was thirsty, he looked at the lake, but it felt so far away, his injuries were starting to take its toll on him as he could barely keep his eyes open, he coughed up more blood as he fell down to one knee "This can't be how I die… I am the sixth Hokage" he says to himself just before he passes out on the ground, both from his injuries and the extreme heat

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, he had a throbbing headache, but it would appear that he wasn't dead yet, or at least he hopped, he tried to move but found his hands and feet tied, he tried to struggle out of them, but pain shot throughout his body indicating his injuries were far from healed, he sat up enduring the throbbing pain, he looked around, it seemed to be a cave of some sort, wait, he recognized these caves, they looked like the emergency shelter inside the Hokage mountain, suddenly he heard footsteps, he laid back down and shut his eyes as he heard someone enter, he was unsure if it was a friend or foe, seeing how he was tied up

The unknown person touched his forehead "Well his fever has died down, what do I do with him now? If I bring him to the Kurokage, he will surely reward me greatly for bringing him a freedom fighter, but he would be executed" the voice said

Naruto could tell it was a female voice, and sounded young; he was disturbed by hearing the name of Kurokage

"Maybe I should tell Sensei about him, he would know what to do" she said, still not sure about what she should do "I wonder who he is"

Naruto had decided that she didn't sound like an enemy, more like confused, he opened his eyes, she was surprised and quickly got to her feet and took out a weapon, Naruto was in shock, the girl had pink hair "Sa..Sakura?" he first thought, but he saw her eyes, they were blue, it wasn't her, and she had a moon headband, they must also have ninja's with pink hair in their country, he was right about her being young, she didn't look much older than 18 or 19

"So you're awake, sorry you startled me" she said as she put her weapons away, she seemed confident that he wasn't a threat to her for now, she walked near him and looked at him "I don't understand why you freedom fighters keep resisting" she said as she sat next to him

"Freedom fighters?" Naruto asked confused

"Don't act as if you don't know what I am talking about, this headband with the old leaf insignia, only they still wear them, so don't try to take me for a fool"

Naruto didn't understand what was going on, what had happened? They had lost the war? How? Was it possible that he was knocked out by some explosion for a few days? If that was the case he would have died, his injuries were too great to go untreated for days

"So, what's your name?" she asked him

Naruto wasn't sure if he should give it to her, after all if she was a nigh ninja, there were possibilities that they were on the lookout for him "My name is… Haku" Naruto simply said remembering his first real mission to the wave country "And you?"

"I am Naoto" She responded "What happened to you? I assumed you must have been on the run, your clothing indicates you have been in battle, and your injuries were grave, oh by the way I healed them, I am a medical Nin, your body should take care of the rest"

"I… Was on the run, I was injured but was able to get away and hide in these ruins"

"Well you were lucky I found you when I did, had I just left you there, then you would have died"

"Thanks you….So… What now? Are you going to turn me in" He said wondering what she had planned

"I don't know yet, you are a freedom fighter, and the Kurokage has ordered that you all be killed" she said, however there was a hint of sadness in her voice

"You're a night ninja, not that I am trying to seal my own fate or anything, but why haven't you already turned me in, since that's what your Kurokage wants"

"Because, my sensei has taught me to value life above all else, giving you up to the Kurokage will mean your death"

"Forgive me if I sound ungrateful, but all the night ninja's that I know are brutal killers who only care about conquest"

"Sadly, that is true for most of us… But my Sensei is different" she said with pride

"Naoto!" a voice from the outside came

"In here!" she responded "That's him" she said as she got up, Naruto could hear footsteps

Naruto couldn't risk his life on the hopes that this person would spare his life, plus there was no telling what he would do with him, it's not like he was going to just let him go, the foxes power had already healed a great deal of his injuries, and he had passed the last 10 minutes slowly cutting the ropes binding his hands, he got his wrists free and got to his feet, he ran down one of the caves, he knew these caves like the back of his hand, and was hoping it would give him an edge

"HEY GET BACK HERE!" Naoto screamed out as she chassed after him

Naruto was coming near a fork in the caves, he quickly began making hand sighs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" there were now 3 of him and they all picked a road Naoto stopped wondering what one to pick, someone cough up with her from behind

"Naoto, what's going on?" the voice asked

Naoto turned around and bowed her head as the man approached her, he was not a tall man, about five six, he had teal green eyes and snow white hair and looked like he was in his late twenties, he also wore a white cloak with the number ten on it "Toshiro Sensei" Naoto answered "I had found a wounded freedom fighter, I tended to his wounds but he got away" she said with a slight bit of shame in her voice

"That's alright Naoto, as long as he didn't hurt you; let's get you back home, your mother will kill me if I don't have you back in time for dinner" he said with a warm smile

"But what about the freedom fighter Sensei?" She said

"Let him be, the freedom fighters are not bad people, they just feel like they need to resist, perhaps in time they will join us" He said with a hint of sadness

"But there was something about this one Sensei"

"Don't worry about him; let's just get you home before your mother beats me up again… You know how she is"

"I am not a kid anymore" she said with a pout "I wish she would give me my space"

"Don't be so hard on her, after all, you are all she has left, without you, I believe she wouldn't have any reason to live, as sad as that sounds"

"I know, I am sorry, you are right, let's go home" She said with a huge grin as they made their way out of the caves

Naruto was standing on the top of the now ruined Hokage Mountain, he watched as the two left the ruined village, he still had no idea what was going on, but one thing was for sure, the Night country had won the war and they had lost… "What do I do now…" He wondered, Konoha was in ruins, most of his people were dead, and he had no idea where the survivors were "I have to find Sakura…" He thought, but he had no idea where to begin, that's when he felt that he was not alone

"Hey you!" The voice screamed out

"Oh this is just perfect, what now" Naruto said

"Who the hell do you think you are? Wearing those clothing, we will teach you to show such disrespect!"

Naruto turned around to face whoever that voice belonged too, but he was surprise to see three Ninja's bearing the leaf headbands, somehow they seemed familiar

"No one disrespects Hokage Sama and gets away with it!" A girl said in anger, she looked like a Hyuga

Naruto was seriously thinking that he needed a change of clothing before they got him killed "Hey, please calm down, I can explain…"

"We are not interested in your explanation, you chose to disrespect the one person we respect the most" another girl shouted

They launched an attack against Naruto who did his best at defending, he wasn't sure what to do, it's not like they were his enemies, but they didn't want to listen to him, however he couldn't help but think he had seen these three before

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The young man shouted as multiple copies of himself attacked Naruto in unison, Naruto was able to defend against all of his attacks, but he couldn't help but think this fighting style was familiar

"Yeah that's right Konohamaru beat him up!" The girl shouted

That's when Naruto realized, this is his team, he was fighting his own team… But how was that possible? They were all around thirteen and fourteen years old, these guys were in there early late twenties or early thirties

"Guys, stop, it's me, I am Naruto!" Naruto tried to explain to them

"Yeah right! Naruto Nii-San died twenty years ago defending our people, he was a great man, you are not him!" Konohamaru shouted in anger, he began to concentrate energy in his hand and launched an attack against Naruto "RASENGAN!"

Naruto was caught by surprise, Konohamaru knew the rasengan?! Naruto's body moved on its own, almost by instinct, he gathered energy in his hand for a rasengan of his own, both energy spheres collided sending them both flying backwards

"He can do the Rasengan to?" The girl who Naruto had guessed must have been Yuki said surprised

"Look, It's me guys, you got to believe me!"

"We are team Naruto, your lies will fall on death ears" Yuki said with anger

Naruto had to think quickly, suddenly he knew what to do, he quickly made hand signs he had not made in a very long time "Oiroke no Jutsu" Naruto suddenly changed into a naked girl version of himself and he blew a kiss towards Konohamaru

"What the hell is that? Do you think such a perverted technique would work on us?" the other girl that could only be Hanabi said

"Yeah you said it girl!" Yuki said in agreement "Right Konohamaru?"

But Konohamaru didn't respond, he was staring at Naruto

"KONOHAMARU, YOU PERVERTED PIG! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR ME?" Yuki said in anger

"Shut up for a minute will you" he simply said, this surprised both Yuki and Hanabi

"What did you just say?" Yuki said gritting her teeth

"Naruto…Ni-San?" he said while not taking his eyes off of him

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he released the jutsu and he returned to his regular form "Finally, now do you believe me?"

"What are you talking about, Konohamaru, how does that prove he is Naruto Sensei?" Yuki asked

"No one else knows the sexyno jutsu other than me…And him, he is the one who created it, and taught it to me, but…Is it really you Naruto Nii-San?" Konohamaru asked as he walked up to Naruto to get a better look at him

"Yes, it's me Konohamaru, Yuki, Hanabi…"

"Naruto Sensei!" Hanabi and Yuki said as they got down on one knee and bowed their heads

"Get up, I don't deserve this respect, I let you all down" he said in a sad tone of voice

"You did your best, you fought your hardest, no one could have done a better job then you Nii-San" Konohamaru stated "But, we thought you were dead, after the Kurokage's attack, you vanished, no one ever saw you again, that was twenty years ago"

"It has been twenty years? But to me, it feels like the battle was only hours ago, I still have injuries that I am recovering from… Tell me, where is everyone? Are you a part of the freedom fighters?" Naruto asked

"How do you know about the resistance?" Yuki asked

"When I woke up here, I found the tablet in the middle of the village ruins, I then passed out, when I woke up, I had been rescued by a night ninja, I was able to get away from her, but she told me a bit about these freedom fighters, and how she thought I was one of them because of my headband" Naruto said to his old team

"Yeah, the freedom fighters are lead by Sasuke Sama, after we thought you were dead, he gathered the survivors and began the resistance, we have been working against the night country ever since" Konohamaru answered

"Sasuke Sama?" Naruto said with a smirk "Sounds like he has grown a lot since I last spoke with him" Naruto added, remembering the last time he spoke with Sasuke was in that cold cell

"Come with us, we can take you to him, I am sure he, and the rest of the resistance will be happy and surprised to see you Naruto Nii-San" Konohamaru said with a smile

"…Its hard to be considered your Nii-San when your older then I am now" Naruto commented

"You're always going to be my Nii-San, remember? You told me so" He said as his grin got wider

"Uh Konohamaru, don't you think that they're going to have the same reaction we did when they see him?" Hanabi said

"Yeah, but he will have us to defend him" He simply responded

"I have a feeling it's not going to be that simple" Yuki said as they began walking away from the ruined village of Konoha, Naruto took one last look before joining them

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**End Chapter 26  
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	27. Chapter 27

And here is another Big one, over 3000 words :)

Now for the reviews so far :D

Sintar07 - Thanks for the review, and yes, i have also read quite a few Naruto stories myself, and none of them have a plot quite like mine, but i have to be honest, i stole this plot from Samurai Jack :P Has anyone ever heard of that show? Basically, you have an evil guy who attacks the world, a Samurai "Jack" :)

chickenman00712 - Thanks for the review, i hope that this chapter clears somethings up if your still confused :)

RSfan- Indeed you were correct ;) And the wait is over, the new chapter is here ;) "less then 24 hours latter too lol" thanks for the review

crsstlk - LOL, i am sorry if you were expecting the story to end, to be honest, there are still many chapters left, so i hope that you will stay with me until the end :), thanks again for the review

naru-ca-titan- You ran into a wall? lol well thanks for the review, and here is the newest chapter, oh by the way, Sasuke makes his re-introduction in this one ;) Had lots of fun with him when he met Naruto here

Well keep those reviews coming guys, i can't thank you guys enough to take the time and actually telling me if i am doing a good job or not, so again thank you all :) on with the show!!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 27  
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Naruto's team had reached a rather large mountain

"We have arrived" Konohamaru said "But Nii-San, you should take those clothing off, specially your cloak and the Hokage hat"

Naruto nodded sadly as he took off his hat, he could still remember when Kakashi had given him the custom made Hokage hat, and now he was dead, all because he couldn't win the war, he then took off his Namikaze cloak, also custom made by his own father, Konohamaru opened a bag for him to shove them into "What about his coat? Everyone knows him by that coat" Yuki said while Naruto sighed as he took off his orange coat leaving only a black shirt, his necklace was now in plain view "Wow, that's a pretty necklace Sensei" she said was staring at it

"It was a gift… From the fifth Hokage, it use to belong to her grandfather, the first Hokage" He said while he shoved it under his shirt and throwing his coat inside the bag

"Wow, so three of the six Hokage's have owned it, now then, what about the pants?" Yuki said with a grin

"Whoa, I draw the line at my pants…I mean come on…"

"Aww" Yuki simply said disappointed while Konohamaru grinned at her

"And you accuse me of being perverted? How the mighty have fallen" he said as Yuki gave him a death glare

"Well I guess something's haven't changed" Naruto said with a grin

"Uh…Yeah" Hanabi said, Naruto could tell she was hiding something, but guessed it wasn't important

Yuki suddenly thought about something "Here!" she said throwing what looked to be makeup at Naruto

"What am I suppose to do with this?"

"Apply it to your markings, they are a dead giveaway"

"This is starting to get out of hand, I hope I don't have to hide my identity for long" he said as he applied the makeup to his face, temporarily erasing the foxes whisker marks on his face

"Perfect Sensei" Yuki said with a smile

"One last thing Nii-San, your headband" Konohamaru said as he held the bag opened

"What? Why?"

"Well considering only ninja's from the leaf still wear them, if you go in there with it, they are going to be suspicious" Hanabi said

"Fine, fine, but I want all this back once we clear everything…" He said while throwing his headband inside the bag "So, where is the entrance?" Naruto asked

Konohamaru grinned as he did a few hand signs "REVEAL!" an entrance hidden in the rock revealed itself as Konohamaru lead the team in

Naruto was amazed, inside the mountain was a small village with a waterfall in the background providing them with all the water they would need, there were gardens and trees, it looked like a small piece of paradise

Shikamaru and Kiba suddenly appeared in front of them "Whoa there you three, who is this? You know better than to bring strangers here without getting permission first" Kiba said

"He is a refuge we found, he was being chased by the night ninja's" Yuki said

"What did you do?" Shikamaru asked Naruto

"I disrespected the Kurokage, saying that he was nothing more than a tyrant for killing my family just because we were sympathetic to the freedom fighters, I would have died had these three not saved me" Naruto lied, feeling awful about it

"Why does that not surprise me, the Kurokage wants to gain the peoples trust and loyalty, and he pulls crap like that, this is why we are still resisting!" Kiba said in anger

"You know, you really look like someone I use to know…" Shikamaru added staring at Naruto's face" What's your name?"

"Haku!" Naruto said

"Well I am sure that Sasuke Sama would love to meet him, he could become a valuable member of the resistance, it's hard to get new people to join us" Konohamaru said

"Alright, you can pass, but know this, Sasuke Sama is protected by some of the most powerful ninja's in the entire nation, so don't try anything stupid" Kiba told Naruto as they let him pass

They began to walk down towards the village, Konohamaru let out a sigh of relief "I thought they were going to throw us in the holding cells for a minute"

Naruto could hear some kids playing around the village "Its remarkable, the community that you guys have built here, I am very proud of how you all stayed together and built such a remarkable place"

"Yeah, we have everything we need here, we built a school and academy, we have food, water, and we are hidden from everyone" Yuki said with a proud smile

Suddenly Naruto saw two kids run down towards them "Mommy, Daddy!" they both screamed as Konohamaru and Yuki got down on one knee and they jumped into their arms "Welcome home!" they both said as they held onto the two

"Mommy and Daddy?" Naruto asked with a grin as Konohamaru blushed slightly

"No one was more surprised than I was when they told me they were getting married" Hanabi said "I didn't even know they were dating, and I was there team mate!" She said with a smile trying to tease her friends

"Wow so… Konohamaru and Yuki? Really?" Naruto said

"Yeah…" Konohamaru simply said

"This is Rika and Yukito" Yuki said as she held their son proudly and Konohamaru held their daughter

"Well that's great, I always thought you made a perfect pair, always fighting with each other, it had reminded of myself and Sakura when we were young" Naruto said with a smile "Speaking of Sakura…"

"Quickly, we need to talk with Sasuke Sama!" Konohamaru quickly said as he lead them to the main building, trying to change the topic

Naruto was slightly concerned at the fact Konohamaru was trying to avoid answering his question, but he would get his answer sooner or later, once more they were stopped at the door

"Who is this Konohamaru?" A ninja wearing an ANBU mask asked

"This is a refuge from the night country, his name is Haku, he may join us if Sasuke Sama accepts him, that's why we must see him immediately"

"One moment, I will see if Sasuke Sama is free" he said as he entered the building, they waited a few minutes before he came back "Sasuke Sama will see you now, but be warned, if you try anything, you will end up dead" He said as he opened the door for them

Yuki and Konohamaru put down their kids "Alright, go home, we will join you for dinner in a bit alright, Mommy and Daddy just need to take care of something here first okay?"

"Alright Daddy, but hurry home, I made a drawing, and I want to show you" He said with an innocent smile

"And I helped!" His little sister added

"Aww, alright, I look forward to seeing it with mommy" He said as he watched them run towards their house laughing

Naruto couldn't help but smile, Konohamaru had turned out to be a great father, he only wished he could have seen them from the beginning, but he couldn't dwell on the past

They entered the building, it wasn't anything big, only a lounge area and doors that lead to Sasuke's office, they opened the door to the office and found Sasuke behind his desk, he raised his head and greeted his guests

"Ah, So you're the one Konohamaru's team found" He said as he got up to get a closer look at him "You look oddly familiar, it's actually kind of scary now that I think about it, other than the fact he had marks on his face and was about my age, you look exactly like him" He said trying to get a closer look at him "What's your name?"

"Uh Haku" Naruto responded, he had a feeling Sasuke wasn't believing them much, or at least suspected something

"Haku huh? That's a rare name, I haven't heard that name in over 25 years, it use to belong to a Mist ninja who I fought in the wave country"

"Oh? Did you win?" Naruto asked trying to act casual

"Actually, Yes, Yes I did kill him; he was no match for me" Sasuke said acting proud

"What? Err I mean really? Wow, you must have been strong, did you do it all on your own, or maybe had help from a friend?"

"Nope, I did have an idiot with me, but he only got in the way, I saved his pathetic life, but he passed out from fear"

"THAT'S NOT HOW I REMEMBER IT, THAT'S BULL SHIT AND YOU KNOW IT!" Naruto said forgetting about his cover

"And how would you know anything about it Mr Haku?" Sasuke said while throwing water from his glass onto Naruto's face, the makeup began washing off his face revealing his whiskers "Or is it Namikaze Naruto, sixth Hokage of Konoha?"

"How did you know?" Konohamaru asked amazed that Sasuke had figured it out almost instantly

"First of all, when I saw you enter here, I couldn't believe how much you looked like him, and then he gave me the name of Haku, one big mistake, since I also fought against Haku, so I decided to try and prove my hunch by making up a bogus story about the outcome of the battle, it worked like a charm, Naruto took the bait, the final piece of evidence that would prove me right was that I had noticed the powder on his cheeks when I took a close look at him, if the water revealed it to be makeup covering his marks, then I was right, if not, well I would owe him an apology for throwing water in his face" He said with a grin "But where have you been for the last 20 years?"

"That's the thing, I don't know the last thing I remember was being pushed onto the ground by Itachi, then everything went black, I woke up in the middle of the ruins of Konoha only a few hours ago not knowing anything that's happened" Naruto explained to Sasuke

"So it was true…" Sasuke said

"What?" Naruto asked confused

"Once we abandoned Konoha, I also took with us one of their captains that I had captured, Ibiki interrogated him for weeks before he finally cracked, I could have done it using my Sharingan, but Ibiki said he had anger and frustration he wanted to get out… Anyway he finally told us that the jutsu used on you was a time vortex, the Kurokage would send you a few months into the future while he recovered, he would then meet you here and kill you off while to you, it would seem like seconds had passed and still be injured, we left a team behind to keep an eye on their forces so we could make sure we would be there to pull you out. The day came as the Kurokage took his captains and waited for you to arrive for 1 week in the ruins of Konoha, but you never showed up, he kept a captain there for the next few months, but again you never showed up, we figured you had died and given up hope"

"Wait, you knew about this? Why wasn't anyone else told!" Yuki said surprised

"Because, we didn't want to create false hope, only myself, Itachi and Ibiki knew, our plan was to jump in with speed, pull him out and get away, the fewer of us there were, the better the chances of us getting away got"

"Hey guys, can I have a private chat with Sasuke?" He asked his team, Konohamaru nodded as he led them out "Uh Leave the bag here!" He said as Konohamaru threw the bag at him, Naruto caught it and opened it, he took out his headband and put it back on

"Sasuke, I have to say that I am impressed at what you have accomplished here, keeping our people together like this must have been hard" Naruto said as he sat down in a seat

"Yeah, at first, we had no food, no supplies, no homes, and we always had the night ninja's on our tail, it wasn't until we found this place and made it our home that we were able to be happy again"

"Well you have done a great job, also, I am happy to see that you are getting along with Itachi, or well I assume you are since you mentioned his name earlier"

"Yeah, that too was tough at the beginning, but we began to trust each other more each day, until we were brothers again, although Naruto, I want you to know that I always considered you to be a brother to me as well, even when we were enemies"

"Yeah, I know, that's why I dragged you back home…That and because of the promise I had made to Sakura, by the way…Where is Sakura? Konohamaru avoided the question earlier, and it had me worried, her name wasn't on the tablet in the ruins as a casualty…"

"She… Didn't join the resistance"

"What?! How could she not! Please don't tell me she joined…Them"

"Of course not, she quit being a shinobi all together, she said she had no reason to fight anymore, she had no reason to live, I tried to comfort her as a friend and the fact that we use to be team mates, but she would push me away, then one day, she just vanished, when I investigated, I found her about a year later in one of the small towns controlled by the night ninja's she was working there as a nurse, and Naruto, she has a daughter"

"What? Who is the father?" Naruto asked

"I don't know, I did ask her once, but she never gave me an answer, her daughter is now a night ninja, I don't understand why she allowed her to join their ranks" Sasuke said

"A Night ninja? Wait, pink hair?" Sasuke nodded "Do you know her name?!"

"I believe it was Naoto"

Naruto was slightly heartbroken, he knew it wasn't his daughter, even though there was a chance, because she did look about the age she should be had she been conceived before the war, but she lacked the Kyuubi marks that should have been passed down as the bloodline "Sasuke, I have to see her, let her know I am back"

"Yeah, I figured you would…"

Meanwhile far away in a quiet little village

"Mom, were back!" Naoto said as she entered the house along with her Sensei Toshiro

"Perfect Timing, dinner is ready, I made your favorite" Sakura said with a smile as she greeted her daughter with a hug

"Ramen? Really? Wow mom, you always tell me it's bad for my health" Naoto said with a smile

"I said its bad if you eat Ramen EVERY DAY, it's alright from time to time" Sakura said as she lets go of Naoto "Toshiro, why don't you stay for dinner? I am sure you're hungry; I made enough for all of us"

"I don't want to be a bother" he said politely

"Hitsugaya Toshiro, you are never a bother, now sit down at the table before I sit you down myself" Sakura said

"Alright I guess" Toshiro finally agreed

They all sat down and began eating, Naoto was very excited, and she loved ramen more than any other food "So how was your day sweetie?" Sakura asked her daughter

"It was great, I did training with sensei, then we went on patrol, we split up so we could finish faster and be here on time"

"Yeah, I figured it would be best for my health if I didn't bring her home late" Toshiro said with a small smirk, it was rare for him to make jokes, but he had develop a close friendship with Sakura and Naoto, a friendship that had begun with a fist to the stomach on the day she knocked him out 20 years ago

"Well I am just happy you got home safe" She said to her daughter

"I wasn't done mom" Naoto responded

"Oh? So your saying something interesting happened during your patrol?" She said being genuinely interested in her daughter's day

"Yeah, when I went to the ruins of the old city, I found this boy badly injured, he was a freedom fighter since he had the headband"

"Was he alone?" Sakura asked wondering which one of her old friends it could have been

"Yeah, so I treated his injuries, he was REALLY cute to mom" she said with a grin

"Now now, he was probably too old for you anyway" Sakura said in a protective tone

"Actually, he was around my age mom, he had blond hair, and eyes, just as blue as mine, he even wore the same colors I do, but that's not all, he also had the marks mom"

Sakura was in shock, if she didn't know any better, she would have sworn she had just described Naruto, Even Toshiro was now paying attention "Go on sweetie…"

"He said his name was Haku and that he had been injured fighting with some night ninja's, but he was able to get away when I turned my head for an instant to greet Toshiro Sensei" she said sadly

Sakura and Toshiro suddenly got up; Naoto didn't understand what was going on "Toshiro, can you find out if anyone from the night ninja's knows about this?"

"Yeah, I will ask around quietly, I suggest you get in contact with your, friends"

"Mom, Sensei, what's going on?" Naoto asked confused and concerned "Did I do something wrong?... Should I have killed him?" She asked in a sad tone

"No sweetie, you did the right thing, I am very proud of you, but you have to stay here while mommy and Toshiro look into something alright?"

"But what's going on? Why can't I come with you?"

"Because, I am your mother and I said so, now do your chores before you take your bath and head to bed, understand young lady?"

"Mom! I am not a kid anymore and…" Sakura gave Naoto one of her angry glares; she had learned over the years that it was best not to anger her mother "Yes Mother

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**End Chapter 27  
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Wow, this chapter was big, not as big as chapter 25, but still big, i tried to explain a few things here, as well as re-introduce Sakura :P hope you all enjoyed it, btw i had fun with the Sasuke meeting Naruto part :P , once more, read, rave, review ;)


	28. Chapter 28

Here is the new chapter 28 :) we get to know a little bit more about Naoto here, and yeah, i guess i also reveal something that some of your already had begun to suspect about her too, so enjoy :)

Reviewer time :D

RSfan - Yes, i had much fun typing up there meting, i like to try and stay as true to the character as i can, but i know some i got wrong, but Naruto and Sasuke, and even Sakura, i believe i have them down pretty well ;) thanks for the review

crsstlk - indeed, his adventure has just begun here in the future, weather or not he finds a way to get to the past, that i haven't decided on yet, its something i am leaving for the end, heck it might open a plot for a new story after this one if you guys want a sequel lol :P thanks for the review :)

naru-ca-titan - As i said to crsstlk, i haven't decided if he is going to return to the past "technically its present :P" and lol at all the emotions :D and thanks for thinking that i rox like no other ;) hope you enjoy this new chapter, thanks for the review :D

chickenman00712 - you need more, well here is more :D lol thanks for the review

Sintar07 - thanks, i hope you enjoy this one too, and as i told RSfan, i do try to stick to the character as much as i can :) thanks for the review

Alright, that's everyone for that chapter, thanks again guys for your continued support, now on with the chapter

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 28  
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Back in the resistance camp, Sasuke had gathered everyone except for the kids for a meeting, Sasuke got up and began to talk "Thank you for coming everyone, I know it's late and we would all rather be with our families, but you know that I wouldn't be dragging you all out here without a good reason"

"What is it Sasuke Sama? Are the night causing more trouble?" One of them asked

"The night are ALWAYS causing trouble" Konohamaru replied

"No, it's not the night, it's actually good news, twenty years ago, this war began, and we lost our homes and many loved ones, every one of us here fought hard in that war, including our Hokage who fought his hardest, until he vanished and we never heard from him again" Everyone were thinking back to that horrible night "I am actually here tonight to tell you all that, he has returned to us, our leader, the sixth Hokage of Konoha, Namikaze Naruto has returned"

Everyone began to whisper wondering what Sasuke was talking about "Sasuke Sama, Lord Hokage was killed, we all saw it with our own eyes" Kiba said

Naruto walked into the room, fully dressed in his Hokage attire shocking everyone, some of them began to bow their heads while others looked at him with sceptical eyes "How is that possible? Look at him! He hasn't aged a day since we last saw him, he is a fake!" One of them screamed out

"Don't you DARE call Naruto Sensei a fake!" Yuki said as she got up and stood by Naruto's side, she was joined by the rest of team Naruto

"No, I understand that some of them doubt who I am, I mean if I was them, I would be doing the same thing, however, there is something that only I can do that no one else can" everyone began to whisper wondering what he was going to do, Naruto closed his eyes and began concentrating on his chakara, slowly a red aura began forming around his body, he suddenly opened his eyes, they were now red, his body had transformed into the Kyuubi state, but he wasn't done, he bit his thumb and made hand signs and hit the ground with his hand "Summoning Jutsu!" A poof of smoke appeared beside him as a small version of the nine tail sat by his side

"My lord! You are alive!" The fox said as it bowed its head

Everyone was amazed, no one else other than Naruto could summon the foxes, since the fox scroll had diapered with him, not that the Kyuubi would have allowed anyone else to sigh it anyway

"Thanks Kyuubi"

"Lord Hokage…" one of the doubters finally said as they all began to bow in respect for their returning leader

Sasuke was grinning "What a show-off" He said as Naruto returned his grin

"But how is it that he has not aged over the past twenty years?"

Sasuke explains to everyone what had happened, from the time vortex to how they had tried to save him, to how Naruto returned

"And now that I have returned, I want to say that it changes nothing for you guys, Sasuke is still the leader of this community, he worked hard for all of you and has protected you all while I was unable too, I will be joining the resistance as a member, not as your leader" Naruto told them

"I don't want the job, I was just doing it because no one else stepped up, and you are the rightful leader as Hokage"

"You have twenty years of experience, compared to you, I was only Hokage for a few days, so whether you want the job or not, it's yours Sasuke, because I am not going to take it from you, these people respect you, they look up to you, depend on you, who am I to just show up one day and take over?" Naruto said with a grin

Sasuke was speechless, there was nothing he could say to counter Naruto, he returned Naruto's grin

Meanwhile Naoto was relaxing in a hot warm bath, washing herself and thinking about her day, her thoughts always came back to the boy she had found in the ruins "I wonder if I will ever see him again, his blue eyes were so dreamy" she thought to herself she washed her face off as she plunged her head under the water and came back up, her makeup began to drip off her face, she removed the rest of it with soap and a cloth, she began running her hands along her cheeks, feeling her birth marks with her fingers "And those marks of his were exactly like mine, I wonder what does that mean? Mom always told me that it made me special, even though everyone made fun of me because of them, and I wished they would just go away, so that way I wouldn't need to cover them up with makeup" she thought to herself once more, she let out a huge sigh "But they were kind of cute on him, I have to see him again" She thought to herself as she got out of the bathtub and dried her body off with a towel, she then looked at herself in the mirror, and began brushing her hair, they were pink like her mothers, however, she had a blond strand sticking out from the rest, once she was satisfied with her hair she smiled at herself "Mom never told me to go to bed after my bath" she said with a grin as she got dressed, she thought about reapplying her makeup, but didn't feel like it, she took one last look at herself in the mirror with her outfit on "Looking hot" she said winking at herself with a grin

Naoto walked out of the house, she immediately Jumped onto the top of the nearest building and began making her way out of the small village, she was now jumping from tree branch to tree branch at extreme speed, she was focused on wanting to find that boy again, and the only place she could think of starting her search was at the ruins, after just over an hour, she had arrived at the desolate ruins of what was once the crown jewel city of the fire nation "I have never been here at night before, this place is eerie in the darkness" she said as she felt a shiver run down her spine "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea…" she told herself as she was starting to have second thoughts "**COME ON NAOTO! YOU'RE A NIGHT NINJA AREN'T YOU? THIS IS NOTHING!! NOW LETS FIND THAT CUTIE!!**" Inner Naoto told herself "You're right, I am a night ninja, I shouldn't be afraid…" she said with a fake laugh as she walked through the ruins, she stops in front of the stone tablet and got down on her knees, it was something she did every time she came to the ruins, her fingers ran over the name of Namikaze Naruto "Father, it's me Naoto, I know I already spoke with you today, remember that boy I told you about earlier? Well he got away, I am not sure why, but I feel like I need to find him again, also, I know you don't want to hear this, but mom would freak if I told her, but his eyes were so dreamy, they were just as blue as mine, and I felt like I could get lost in them, if I find him, maybe I can convince him to come see you. Talk to you latter father" she said as she bowed her head at the tablet before getting back up, although she had never met her father, her mother use to come here with her at least once a month to talk with him, it became a ritual for them, she would tell him about stuff in her life, and about Naoto and how proud he would be of her, and Naoto had begun doing the same, she knew that her father was a great man and wished she could have known him, but this was the only thing she could do

Naoto had not noticed that someone was watching her from the shadows "Well well, what do we have here?" The man said, Naoto froze "A cute little girl out all alone at night, you know, these places are dangerous, something horrible could happen to you"

Naoto took out her Katana and got into a defensive position, trying to locate where the voice was coming from "Who are you? Where are you?" she said

"Who I am is of no concern to you, where I am, well my pretty, I am right behind you!"

Naoto felt a presence behind her, she quickly turned around but he was gone "I am warning you, I am a trained Night Ninja, my Sensei is one of the thirteen captains, so back off!"

"Oh, you have some spunk in you, I like that in a girl" the voice said again

Naoto was afraid, although she was a night ninja, she did not draw power from the moon, she was strong in her own right, but she was alone in the dark and in the middle of a ruined city where many had died in a war, including her own father, she felt something hit her hard on the neck, she then suddenly felt weak as she dropped to one knee, but she refuse to give up, she forced her body back up

"Impressive, most people would have passed out, that means you're going to last much longer then the weak girls" he said with an evil laughter

Naoto had to do something, but she couldn't even see the guy, she only felt his presence when he was very close to her, and by that time, it's too late "Alright Naoto, calm down, calm down, the enemy is using the cover of the darkness as a weapon, so I should move onto the top of one of the buildings where the moon will provide me with the light I need to see him" she thought to herself. She spotted the tallest building still standing and quickly jumped on top of it, she could now clearly see all around her, he wouldn't be sneaking up on her anymore

"You are a very cleaver little girl, you're smart as well as good looking, what a lucky day for me" he said as he began laughing again

Naoto was afraid, she wanted to run away, but she couldn't, the laughter continued, almost like a torture, suddenly someone bursts from under her, she falls down onto her back and her Katana falls out of her hand, the enemy picks it up "Well, what a fine blade, I believe I will take it along with you" He said with a grin

Naoto got back to her feet "Give that back!" She said in anger as she looked at the man, he had a sand ninja headband

"Or what? You're going to scream at me?" he said laughing

"That Katana use to belong to my father, it's the only thing I have of him, you are NOT going to take that from me" Naoto launched an attack concentrating chakara into her hand, she hit the man and sent him flying onto the ground, she was able to grab her Katana before it fell down "Heh, you're not that strong after all" she said with a renewed confidence, but suddenly she felt something kick her in the neck once more, it sent her flying forward, she slammed into the ground as her Katana flew from her hand, she was barely able to stay conscious

"That's because you attacked my partner" he said as he walked towards her,

she didn't understand why she felt so weak, she was still conscious but unable to move "What did you do to me…"

"I hit one of your nerves that gives control to your motor functions, don't worry its temporary of course" he said as he walked up to her, she was unable to do anything as he grabbed her "You are quite beautiful I must say, it's almost makes me feel bad" he said with a grin

Naoto felt disgusted, but she was at his mercy, as his partner picked up her Katana again "That bitch, let me cut her up a little bit for what she did to me!"

"Now now, calm down, I don't want you to ruin her perfectly silky skin just because she was able to beat you up, that's your fault" he said as he smelled her hair, suddenly she is snatched away from his grasp "What the hell?!" he said as he had not detected the presence of anyone else

"You picked the wrong girl to mess with" A voice came from the darkness

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

The new ninja suddenly took out the one that had held Naoto with ease, sending him flying into some rubble, the enemy ninja finally got a good look at their attacker; he had red eyes and a leaf headband "You're a resistance fighter, why are you helping a night ninja? We are suppose to be allies!" the sand ninja said

"She may be a night Ninja, but she is also an innocent girl that did nothing wrong, and ally or not, you are going to pay for your sins" he said, suddenly the man took out a Kunai and stabbed him without warning, blood began gushing out of his mouth, Itachi shoved it deeper inside, the sand ninja's eyes began to close as he died, the man then dropped him and turned his attention to the other one who still had Naoto's katana in hand

"He is mine!" a voice came from behind the man with the red eyes, Naoto was back on her feet

"What? How are you back on your feet, your nervous system should not have recovered yet!"

"I am a highly skilled Medical Ninja, using my chakara to fix my nervous system was easy, now, are you going to hand me my Katana back, or do I have to take it by force, again"

The sand ninja felt like he was outmatched he handed her back her weapon "What are you going to do with me now?"

"It all depends on her; I think it's only fair considering what you and your friend had planned" The man with the red eyes said

"Please, I beg you, spare me" he pleaded as he got down on his knees in front of Naoto

Naoto wanted to stab him right then and there "My sensei has taught me to treat every life with respect, even scum like you, as much as I want to make you pay for what you did, that would lower me down to your level, and I am better than that, so get out of here" Naoto said as she put her weapons away and turned her back on him

The man grinned as he took out a Kunai and was about to stab her in the back, but the Kunai was knocked out of his hand by her blade, as she turned around with speed "I am so sorry, forgive me!"

"You're lucky that I refuse to take the life of another unless I have no choice, now get the hell out of here" She said with angry eyes

"Not so fast, she may be able to just let that slide, but I cannot, you had a chance to leave in peace, yet you chose to attack her when her back was turned, how cowardly, we don't need allies like you" his eyes began to spin, the man then began to scream as he collapsed on the ground, Naoto could tell he was no longer breathing

"What the hell did you do?!" she asked as she got down to check on the man, but there was nothing she could do to save him

"He didn't deserve to live, like I said, he had a chance and blew it, I know that's what you wanted to do, but your heart was too pure to do it, so I did it for you"

Naoto got into a defensive position "Now what? You're a freedom fighter and I am your enemy"

"You are not my enemy, you have not done anything for me to warrant turning my blade on you" the man said as he turned his back on her and began to walk away

Naoto put her Katana away "Hey, can I at least get your name?"

"My name is Uchiha Itachi" the man said as he vanished

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**End Chapter 28  
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**Well that was 28, hope you liked it, by the way, Itachi doesn't know Naruto is back yet in case you were wondering ;), oh and i just had to give Naoto an inner self, she is after all Sakura's daughter :D read, rave, review :)


	29. Chapter 29

And i stand here once again with my largest chapter to date! 3815 words "BEFORE MY NOTES!" i didn't think i could make a chapter bigger then 25 lol, oh well, there is a flashback in this chapter, just trying to give you an idea of how Sakura got to there she is today

anyway, now for my reviewers

RSfan - well this one is bigger, so i hope you like ;) lol thanks for the review :D

crsstlk - I am sorry to say that Sakura and Naruto do not meet in this chapter either, but rest assured that there reunion is close at hand, as for weather he goes back or not, i have decided, but you will need to wait and see what one i picked :P thanks for the review :)

naru-ca-titan - yay, your happy, yay :D (jumps for no reason what so ever) lol anyway i really hope you like this chapter, there is a part i added in there just for you, i don't want to give away any of the story, but here is a hint, it grabs hit nose and hair :P once you get to that part, you will understand what that means lol, it made me think of you when i wrote it for some reason ;) again, thanks for the review :D

gilmaxter - an other new reviewer :) Thanks for reading my story, and i hope you continue on reading, please keep reviewing as it means a lot to me to know that you guys are enjoying it so much :) again thanks for the review

Cunique - An other new reviewer, thanks a lot, it makes me feel all happy to know that you love my story enough to wake up early and read it on a Saturday morning :D, i noticed that you made that review on the 19th chapter, so i don't know how long it will take you to see this, but thank you very much for the review, i hope you keep on reading and enjoying my story

And that's everyone, again thank you all

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 29  
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Sakura had arrived back home, Toshiro was waiting for her in the front yard "Toshiro, did you find out anything?"

"No one has heard anything about a new resistance member fitting that description, you?"

"Nothing from my end either, maybe it's nothing, I mean what are the odds that he would be back after all those years, and he wouldn't be Naoto's age anyway, so it must have been someone else" She said

"Someone else with the marks? Unless the resistance is using new tactics" he replied

"Yeah, your right, it must be something the resistance is doing, maybe there trying to use his image in raids for supplies, who wouldn't run away if they saw the Hokage among the attackers" She said trying to put on a fake smile

"We are over thinking things, until we find out more about this, there isn't much we can do, other then go to their base"

"No, we don't need to go that far, if he is really out there, he will turn up" she said "Its cold out tonight, do you want to come in for a cup of coffee?" she added

"Yeah, sure" He said as they entered the house

"Naoto sweetie, were back" Sakura shouted out, but she heard nothing "Naoto?" but again no response

"She must have gone to bed early, go make the coffee, I will go check on her" Toshiro said with a smile as Sakura nodded

She went into the kitchen and began heating up some water as Toshiro went up the stairs to the second level of the house, he knew the house very well since he often babysat for Sakura when she was doing late night shifts at the hospital, he opened the door to her room only a crack so he could peek in, but the bed was empty, he opened the door and walked in "Naoto?" he asked, but no one answered, he checked the other rooms, but no Naoto, he then returned to her room and looked at the wall where she would normally place her Katana, it was missing, he ran back down stairs "Sakura, Naoto is gone, and she took her Katana with her, she may have left the village alone!"

Sakura dropped one of the empty cups she had just taken out of the cabinet, it shattered as it hit the ground, but Sakura didn't really care about that right now "What?!" she said as she thought about her daughter out alone

"I will go search for her, I want you to stay here in case she comes back" he said as he was about to exit the house

"No! I can't just sit by while my daughter could be in danger!"

"She is a teenager, they do these things, for all we know she just went for a walk, let's not overreact, I will find her and bring her home, I won't let anything happen to my goddaughter, but stay here, if she comes back, she may wonder why you haven't returned yet and go back out" he said as he walked out of the house, leaving Sakura to fear and imagine the worst case scenarios of what could happen to her little girl

Meanwhile Naoto had not given up on tracking down the boy, she was the tenth divisions best trackers, mainly because one of her abilities is a heighten sense of smell, an ability that even Naruto didn't have, and her ability to see things that others overlook, she was walking through the caves of the ruined Hokage mountain with a torch, she stopped at the very same intersection where he had used shadow clones to run in every tunnel so she wouldn't know who to pursue, she breathe in deeply though her nose trying to sense a difference in the air, it was faint, but she could smell the odour of iron "it must be the blood on his clothing" she said as she picked the tunnel that the odour was coming from

She fallowed it until she reached the summit, the view was spectacular, she was trying to imagine what it must have been like to see this view before the city was destroyed by her people, she turned her attention back to her goal, she could no longer smell the iron as unlike in the caves, it had dissipated in the air with the passing of time, had her sensei told her to track him down earlier, she could have caught up with him, but she bent down and used the torch to light the ground, she saw a set of prints, they had been made recently since the winds or rain had not washed them away yet, she then noticed a few other sets "It looks like he was joined by three others up here, and from the looks of it, there was a struggle, one of them used some clones" she said as she studied the prints on the ground "But who were they? Sensei would have known if there would have been other night ninja's patrolling the area, and freedom fighters don't attack their own, it must have been bandits, here are a few blood stains, one of his wounds must have opened up again during the battle"

She continued to study the prints "What's this? Now all four sets of prints, including his are walking together in that direction? Maybe he was forced to surrender due to his wounds" She said as she began to fallow the prints until she reached the forest, the prints stop "They must have begun jumping on the branches from here" she jumped on the top of one of the tree branches, she studied it and moved onto the next until she finally found what she was looking for "this branch is scarred, it looks like it was done recently, they must have jumped onto this branch" she jumped onto the next branch and studied it again, she found multiple scarring that she deducted was caused by the impact of people jumping on them "So they went in that direction huh?" she said with a grin as she begun jumping with speed, making sure to check the branches in case they had changed direction

Meanwhile Sasuke was laying on the top of the mountain that was used to hide their little piece of paradise "Hey Sasuke" Naruto said as joined him, Sasuke was staring at the stars in the sky "I have been wondering…" he said hoping he wasn't disturbing him

"Yeah?" He asked as he gave his attention to Naruto

"What has the resistance been doing for the past twenty years? I mean I know you guys built this place and all, but I mean, what's the purpose of the resistance?" he asked him

"At first, we were helping the wind country fight them, but they brought in more ninja's from their homeland, eventually they owned most of the fire nation and even begun invading the wind, the sand ninja's have been able to hold them from gaining any other ground, since the night are not good in desert combat, but in all honesty, the resistance is just a way for us to stay together, we refuse to join the night country, and we refuse to abandon our home land, even if Gaara offered to take us all in"

"So your saying that your goal isn't to retake the nation huh?"

"We don't have the man power to challenge them, you were our strongest fighter, and only hope to beat their Kurokage, with you gone, it just seemed impossible, and my priority now is the safety of our people" he said in a serious tone

Sasuke had indeed grown up, the twenty years had given him experience and wisdom "You have done a fine job as the leader Sasuke" He said trying to assure his friend that he approved of what he had done

"Thanks…It means a lot coming from you actually" he answered "I assume you are going to want to find Sakura as fast as possible huh?"

"Yeah, and I assume you know where she is?" he asked him

"Yeah, but its late, it can wait until tomorrow, for now, let's just rest and relax" he said as Naruto sat next to him

"Thanks Sasuke, you truly are a brother to me" he said with a smile

"You have idea how much I missed that stupid. Idiotic smile of yours" he said jokingly

"Well, I would like to say how much I missed your superior, arrogant ways, but to me, I saw you a few days ago, so I can't" he said trying to tease his friend back, the both of them continued to talk together as the moon reached its highest point in the sky

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**End Chapter 29  
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Well, i hope that you guys liked seeing a bit of Sakura's past, as well as to how her friendship with Toshiro began, just a note, **THERE IS NOTHING OTHER THEN FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO :P** i just though i would say it before someone asked lol, there just really close friends, anyway, read, rave, review :D


	30. Chapter 30

Wow, already chapter 30, i can remember how i was posting chapter 20 only like 2 weeks ago :P the story has moved along quite nicely since then, i would like to thank everyone who has read and supported my story so far, i can't believe that i just hit the 100 review mark :D and that last Thursday, in a single day, i had over 1,000 hits and average 600 hits a day! that's amazing to me, i am sure some of you who have successful stories are like , big deal :P but to me, this is, well awesome, i never expected that so many people would like my story :) and i have you all to thank for this, specially my loyal reviewers, who thanks to them, give me the reason i need to keep on posting this fantastic story at speeds that i didn't think was possible :P, so i would like to personally thank you all, now its time for my favorite part, my response to you, my reviewers :D

RSfan - Thanks for the review, and indeed, i agree that it was a hole that i missed, and thus i tried to correct in this chapter, i made it much harder for her to track them down, and created the misdirection hubs :P i hope you guys understand what i tried to mean by those things lol anyway thanks again for the review, hope you enjoy chapter 30!

crsstlk - Thank for the review, yeah, sometimes i like to take things slow, its my way of preparing for a chapter where things are suddenly going to move quickly, think of it as a roller coaster ;) i am sorry to say that Naruto and Sakura do not met yet in this chapter, but i swear to you, it is comming soon, he does however meet with someone else ;) so i hope you enjoy chapter 30! :)

naru-ca-titan - ah, my favorite, hyperactive, add fan ;) as i told crsstlk, they do not meet in this chapter yet, but fear not, it is coming, i swear :P, there is more matsumoto bashing, this time from Inner Sakura :P look forward to it ;) i hope you like this chapter 30 as its my largest to date :D

Sintar07- Wow, thank you so much for pointing that error out, i always try to re-read my stories so i can catch error that i missed when i first typed it up, and i had re read chapter 28 over and over, but i can't believe i had missed such an obvious typo lol, thanks, it has been fixed :) and there is an other flash back here, this time its Naoto as she grows up :) and lol at the back to the future comment, it wasn't meant as a joke to that movie, but now that you mention it, it does sound like it doesn't it :P anyway i hope you enjoy chapter 30 :)

Cunique - Wow, i didn't think my story was worthy of being printed out :P thanks, and alright, i have seen a lot of people voice there opinion on this, and i have made a decision, one that should make you all happy, my plan is to somehow bring him back home to the present, i won't tell you how, or the backlash that will have, thats all i will say, so look forward to it :P thanks a lot for the review, hope you like chapter 30 :D

gilmaxter - Thanks for the review and compliment, i hope you enjoy this chapter as much as i enjoyed typing it :) enjoy chapter 30 ;)

lilal6 - Thank you for the review and compliment, i shall continue writing it :) hope you enjoy chapter 30

and that's everyone! I hope you all keep those reviews coming, now for the main even, and one you have been waiting for, the LARGEST CHAPTER SO FAR IN THIS SERIES, with 5201 words "BEFORE AUTHOR NOTES" i give you, CHAPTER 30!!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 30  
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Naoto was traveling at high speeds through the trees, she finally came to a clearing and there was now a large lake in front of her, the foot prints lead her to believe they had crossed the lake, Naoto looked at the other side, there seemed to be a small island in the middle "Could that be their camp?" she wondered, but she saw no evidence of it from her side, she quickly gathered chakara in her feet and began running across the lake, when she got there, she found nothing, she tried to find more evidence of the direction they went in, but to her surprise, there were prints all over the place in every direction, Naoto knew what this was, it was a resistance misdirection hub, it was used by the resistance as a point where they all used to go wherever they wanted to go, if they were ever tracked back, no one would ever be able to tell whose prints belong to who, or the direction they went in, they would also move the hub very often so they wouldn't be able to post guards to fallow them

"But if this is a resistance hub, then that means their not bandits, so why were they fighting back in the ruins?" Naoto wondered, she then looked at the sky "The moon is beginning its descent, its past midnight, if I continue trying to track them, I won't get back home tonight, mom is going to kill me…who am I kidding, she's going to kill me anyway for leaving alone without telling her" She said as she let out a sigh "**You're already in trouble, might as well make it worth it! Let's Find that boy!**" inner Naoto demanded, Naoto sat down and closed her eyes, she began concentrating her chakra to her nose, making it more sensitive to the smells around her, it was a long shot since she knew his scent would be hard to find after waiting such a long time, but she had to try, she took in deep breath from her nose trying to process all the different odours, she could smell the different animals in the area, the freshness of the water, she sat there in total concentration for well over ten minutes, it was very faint, but she had detected the scent of iron in the air, she was trying to block out all other scents so she could concentrate on it, she focused on it, singling it out, she suddenly opened her eyes and got up in the direction she was confident the smell was coming from, without hesitation she began running across the lake, once on the other side, there were no trace or evidence that anyone had used this route, the ground had no prints, but it didn't stop her from continuing her run in that direction

Meanwhile Toshiro had arrived at the ruins, he had a feeling that Naoto would be trying to find that boy again, and he was hoping that she would have started her search from the ruins, once he arrived he found 2 dead sand ninja's, he was instantly afraid something horrible had happened to Naoto "This is bad, if anyone has dared hurt her, I will make them pay!" he said in anger, which was out of character for the regularly calm captain, but he would kill anyone who would touch a single hair of Naoto, as his goddaughter, she meant the world to him, suddenly he felt another presence, he quickly jumped to the top of one of the tallest remaining buildings, only to find a raven haired man, he was meditating in the calmness of the night, he had not even bothered moving or getting up for Toshiro "Uchiha Itachi"

"Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro of the tenth division" Itachi simply responded without moving in the sightless

"Did you have anything to do with what happened here tonight?" he asked

"Of course" he simply said

Toshiro suddenly took out his Katana and was ready to strike "What did you do with her!" he demanded

"I don't know what you're talking about" he responded, not even getting up to defend himself against a possible attack

"Don't play dumb with me, what did you do with my subordinate!" he said as he took a step forward

"I am sorry, but the only people I have seen here tonight are the two scum bags I killed, and the daughter of the sixth Hokage" he said in the same calm tone of voice, Toshiro was shocked

"What? You're Hokage died twenty years ago, he has no daughter" Even though he knew it was a lie

"Who is playing dumb now? Don't insult my intelligence"

"How many others know…" he asked giving up trying to hide the fact since he obviously knew

"No one else, Sasuke may have suspicions, but he has been too busy with our people to do a proper investigation, I have been keeping an eye on her from the very beginning"

Toshiro put his Katana away feeling that Itachi was not a threat "Then if you have seen her, where is she?"

"She went into the caves, and then she ran off in the direction of our secret camp, I don't know why though"

"You feel pretty confident about giving me the location of your camp"

"Again, you insult my intelligence, I know you already know its location, I have seen you scout around it, however, I know you're not a bad person, proof is in how you protect Sakura and Naoto, I have also seen you spare the lives of my people countless times, even witness you allowing them to get away with supplies, as much as you want us to believe you are our enemy, I know the truth" Itachi said continuing his meditation

"Well since you seem to know everything, tell me, do you have any information on the kid with the marks on his face?"

"What?" Itachi said opening his eyes for the first time as he looked at Toshiro

"I guess not" he said as he was about to leave to pursue Naoto

"Wait, you can't leave without telling me anymore" Itachi said as he got to his feet

"I don't know much, its Naoto who saw him, all I know is that she told us that she saw a kid about her age, blond hair, blue eyes with the leaf headband, and on his face where the same marks she has, now unless you freedom fighters have begun using his image to try and gain the upper hand in some fights, or he has returned"

Itachi's eyes widen, it was rare for him to be surprised by anything, but he had not returned to the hideout in a few days "I can assure you that we do not disrespect our Hokage by using his image to our advantage"

"Then I guess the only explanation is that either Naoto was mistaken, or…"

"That's impossible, he died, we all saw it, you were there, even your Kurokage declared him dead after Naruto failed to return months latter thinking he was too weak to survive the time vortex, she must have been mistaken"

"Well I believe that she is trying to track down that boy regardless of if she made a mistake in his appearance or not"

"If you're heading towards our base, then I am coming with you" He said walking towards Toshiro

"A night Ninja Captain and a Freedom Fighter working together?" Toshiro said surprised

"You want to find her as fast as you can right? And I want to find out more about this…Boy, and as I said before, I know you to be a good man, I have kept an eye on you for a very long time"

"Very well" he said, not even bothered by the fact that Itachi had been keeping tabs on him; they both began tracking down Naoto

Morning had come, Sakura was restless, she had not been able to sleep a single wink, she was worried sick about Naoto "**When that girl comes back home, she is going to be in SERIOUS trouble**" Inner Sakura screamed out "I just want my baby back…" Sakura responded "**I want her back too, but she needs to be taught a lesson, she can't have us worried sick like this again!**" Inner commented back "It's just getting harder and harder, she is growing up so fast, soon I won't be able to stop her from doing what she wants, and in a way, I shouldn't want too, but I am just so worried about her, she has more enemies then she knows, even within her own squad" Sakura told herself "**Specially that big breast bitch Toshiro has as a vice captain, I see her with hateful eyes not only towards us, but towards our baby girl too! You should knock some sense into her, by the looks of it; all her brains fell into her breast!**" Sakura sighs as she continued to look out the window for her girl to come back home

Naruto had woken up from a good night sleep, he was having breakfast thinking about how they were going to leave today to find Sakura, he didn't know what to expect, to him, the last twenty years didn't happen, but she felt every single one of those years go by, he felt horrible for not being by her side for any of those years, but his thoughts kept on coming back to Naoto, who was her father? Had Sakura fallen in love with someone else so soon after his presumed death? Or even worst, had she been abused? His mind was full of questions, but one thing was for sure, Naoto was as beautiful as her mother, he had wished that he could have been by Sakura's side to see her grow up, even if he wasn't the father, suddenly a knock to his door brought him out from his thoughts "come in, its open" he simply said

Sasuke walked in "Hey idiot, are you ready to go?" He asked him

"Yeah, just finishing up eating"

"Good, put these on" he said giving Naruto a new set of clothing "Your cloths are full of dirt and blood, I am sure you want to look respectable when you meet up with Sakura again, at least I was able to find some orange and black clothing for you, I can't say it's a popular colors with the other ninja's of our little community" he said with a grin

"What can I say? I was one of a kind" Naruto said with a huge grin "Thanks for the change of clothing though, I guess I hadn't thought about how dirty and bloody these cloths are" suddenly he looked at himself in the mirror, he was a total mess, he couldn't present himself to Sakura like this "Uh Sasuke, mind giving me about ten minutes to clean up?"

Sasuke tried not to laugh "Yeah, go right ahead, I will be waiting for you at the entrance" he said as he left Naruto's little house that was given to him as a new member of the resistance

Naruto quickly jumped into the shower, and cleaned himself up, once he dried himself he made sure his hair was perfect before he tied his headband, he then put on the clothing that Sasuke had provided him, they were very similar to his own orange and black outfit, he then took a look at his Namikaze cloak, he was happy to see that it had no rips, no stains, it was a bit dirty, but he was able to clean it up with a bit of water and scrubbing, he then put on his Hokage hat, he had debated whether or not he should put it on since it may get him some unwanted attention, but he thought back to the day Kakashi had handed him the box with the hat in it, and now Kakashi was dead, along with many other good ninja's, he wanted to show his gratitude and respect towards his old fallen sensei by wearing it. Satisfied with his look, he exited the building and made his way to the entrance where Sasuke was waiting for him

"Took you long enough" He said as he got up

"Yeah yeah, let's just go, uh no one else is coming?"

"No, we are heading towards a night controlled village, the smaller our group is, the better"

"Although I wish you would take one of us with you" Shikamaru said as he and Kiba walked towards them

"I already told you…"

"Yeah, we know, at least you have Hokage Sama watching your back" Shikamaru added

"Guys, I already told you that I am no longer Hokage"

"Just because you went missing for the past twenty years, and the fire nation is in shambles, doesn't mean you're no longer Hokage" Kiba said with a grin

Naruto knew that they still held a great deal of respect for him, and decided not to fight them on the subject

"Alright idiot, lets head out, that village is a few days away" He said as the two of them left paradise behind

It had now been twelve hours since Naoto had begun tracking that blond boy, She had not stopped to rest even for five minutes, she didn't want to lose the scent, it was the only thing she had since she found no other traces, no foot prints, no damages branches, nothing to indicate anyone had traveled here recently, all she had was that scent of iron that she had locked onto "It's getting slightly stronger, I must be on the right track" She thought to herself as she jumped from branch to branch as fast as she could even using chakara in her feet making her faster

At the same time Toshiro and Itachi were pursing Naoto but Toshiro was confused "Isn't your base this way?"

"Yeah, but if she is tracking our people, then they used one of our hubs before heading towards our base"

"Ah yes, your misdirection hubs, very cleaver" Toshiro said as they arrived at the small island before heading towards the base

Meanwhile Sakura was still waiting, she had not eaten, or even moved from her spot in the window, her eyes always fixed at the same location, the villages entrance, waiting for Naoto or Toshiro to return, she then begun thinking back to when Naoto was younger

"**FLASHBACK 14 years ago when Naoto is 4 years old**"

_Naoto had come home from her first day of school, Sakura had made her a very special dinner to celebrate the occasion "Mommy!" Naoto said jumping into her mother's arms_

"Naoto! How was your first day?" she said as she led her daughter to the table

"It was horrible mommy, the kids made fun of my marks" she said crying

"Don't worry sweetie, they are just jealous of you, you are unique, you are special, and those marks are a gift from someone who loves you very much"

"Really? So I am not a freak then?" she said cheering up

Sakura was starting to get angry with the kids, they had called her sweet Naoto a freak? It brought back memories of her own childhood and how she was treated the same way just because of her forehead, why did kids have to be cruel to one another? "Of course not, you are my little girl" she said with a smile

"Then mommy, why don't I have a daddy? Everyone else at school does" she said sounding sad

"Sweetie, you have a daddy, and he watches over you every single day, he is very proud of you and loves you very much"

"Really, wow, but I wish I could see him and talk to him"

"You can talk to him whenever you want sweetie" she said to Naoto

Toshiro walked into the kitchen with a small cake "Hey Naoto, look what I have"

"CAKE!!" Naoto's eyes lit up as Toshiro smiled at her

"Toshiro, you spoil her to much" Sakura said with a smile

**8 years later****, Naoto is now 12 years old and graduating from the ninja academy**__

"Mom! I got rookie of the year!!" Naoto said as she ran into her house and hugged her mother bearing the night ninja headband proudly

"Really? That's so great; I knew you could do it"

"And I have been assigned to the tenth division, the instructor even said that Toshiro asked that I become his apprentice!" she said in an excited tone

"Now you're going to have to start calling him Sensei" She said with a smile

"Yeah, but it's going to be hard, I have known him for as long as I can remember, but I must pay him the proper respect"

Toshiro walked in with a small box and a large smile "Congrats on becoming the rookie of the year Naoto" he said as he gave her the box

"What's this Toshiro…Sensei" She said almost forgetting to say it, he handed her the small box, she opened it with a smile, it was a gold necklace with the tenth division's logo on it "This is for me?" She said happily as she put it around her neck

"Yes, you are the first apprentice I take on since becoming a captain, I wanted to give you something special" he said as she hugged him

"Thank you Toshiro Sensei"

Sakura smiled at the two, now it was her turn "Sweetie, I have something for you as well" she said as she handed her a larger box, Naoto was excited, as she opened the box, inside was a beautiful Katana, she wasn't sure if she would get one, she knew that all night ninja's normally received their Katana's at graduation, but her name had been skipped, it was because Toshiro had told them she already had one

"WOW! Its beautiful mom" she said as she took it in her hand

"This Katana use to belong to your father, and it belonged to his father before him, now it's yours, I believe that he will keep you safe through this blade" she said as she smiled at her

"You guys are the best! I want to go show everyone my new blade!" she said happily as she ran out of the house to see her friends

Toshiro sat down at the table as Sakura handed him a cup of coffee "I still don't know about letting her become a shinobi" she said as she sat with him with her own cup

"She needs to learn how to defend herself, I know your worried about her, but I will be there to protect her, that's why I personally went to the Kurokage and requested she be made my apprentice"

"Didn't he ask you why?" she asked him concerned that it may have been a bad idea to get unwanted attention from the Kage

"Not really, I just explained to him that I thought it was about time I took on an apprentice, he agreed saying I could pick whoever I wanted" he said trying to assure her that everything was alright

"She is growing up so fast, and every day, she begins to act more like her father, I fear the day when I can no longer protect her, when she will be fully grown up and want to leave to live out her life, as she should, but I am just worried about her"

"I know, but I swear, nothing will ever happen to her while I am able to take breath, it's a promise I made you, and that I intent to keep" he told her

"Thanks Toshiro, I don't know where I would be right now if it wasn't for you" she said as she smiled at the young man

**4 years latter ****Naoto was now 16**__

Naoto ran into the house crying as she ran to her room slamming the door, Sakura wanting to know what had happened ran up after her "Naoto, what's wrong?" she asked from outside the door "did something happen?"

"GO AWAY!" she simply screamed at Sakura

"Sweetie, tell me what happened" Sakura said not giving up

"I don't want to talk about it, leave me alone" she continued to resist

Sakura knew that it was a cry for help, Naoto wanted her to come in and comfort her, but the teenager in her refused to give in, Sakura opened the door and saw Naoto crying her eyes out into her pillow, Sakura went to her side and held her "There there sweetie, I am here, now tell me what happened"

Naoto was still reluctant at telling her mother something like this, but she knew she would just keep on probing her until she would give in "I hate these marks mom, they are a curse!"

Sakura was shocked "What? Why? Did something happen again?"

"There is this boy I like, so I went to ask him if he wanted to go out tonight, he looked at me and said that he would never go out with a freak that had marks on her face"

"**WHAT? WHO THE HELL IS HE, GET HIS NAME, THEN LETS BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM!**" Inner Sakura screamed out in anger "Then he is not worth your time, hunny, you are beautiful, just look at yourself, if he can't see passed your whisker marks, then he is he is a fool" she said as she held her daughter tightly "You know, when I was young, I was made fun of as well you know"

"What? That's impossible, look at you, your perfect" she said surprise that anyone would refuse her mother

"No one is perfect Naoto, when I was younger, people made fun of my forehead, for the longest time, I though no one would ever love me, but there was one boy who saw past my forehead, he saw me for who I truly am, that boy was your father Naoto, and I believe that there is someone out there for you too" she said with a smile

The next morning Naoto came down the stairs for breakfast, Sakura had noticed something different, her marks were gone "Naoto? What did you do?"

"I decided to cover the marks with makeup, at least this way; people will stop making fun of me"

Sakura shook her head in disappointment; it would appear that her talk was not as effective as she had hoped it would be, but she can't really talk since she had done the same thing herself, she had used a ribbon to hide her forehead, Naoto would have to learn on her own that she should not change how she looks just so others would like her  
**  
END FLASHBACK**

Naoto was thinking back to the night where her mother had told her that there was a boy out there for her, and perhaps this boy, with the same marks as her, was the one who was for her she thought to herself as she continued on wanting to meet the blond boy with the blue eyes again

Naruto and Sasuke had been traveling for over half a day when suddenly a blur just flashed by them, Naruto could swear it was a pink orange and black blur, they both stop, as did the blur "It's you!" The pink haired night ninja said staring at Naruto

Naruto was staring at her, specifically at her whisker marks "…Where did those come from? You didn't have them the last time I saw you" He asked her

But Naoto was still shocked, not only did she just bump into the boy she was searching for, but the leader of the resistance was with him, her instincts made her grab her Katana and to get ready to defend herself, it suddenly began to sink in as she realized she shouldn't have done this on her own, if the resistance captured her, there was no telling what they would do to her, but the one she was searching for was now right in front of her

Naruto had not taken his eyes off of her; she had an orange and black outfit, although the orange was a lighter color then his, as the darker orange would have clashed to much with her hair, he then noticed white strand of hair, but his eyes kept coming back to the marks on her face "Please, tell me, how did you get those marks?" he asked her again

Sasuke had not even taken out his weapon, he stood at Naruto's side, he knew doing anything else would confirm to her that they are hostile "They are birth marks, what about yours?" she asked him

Naruto ran his fingers on his own whiskers, unlike hers; his were not birth marks, they given to him only moments after he was born when the fox was sealed inside of him "I have had mine since the day I was born as well" witch was technically true

There was an awkward silence Naoto didn't know if they would attack her or not, she had not really planed how she would approach him once she met him, but she never expected for Sasuke to be there either

Naruto on the other hand was jumping with joy, if what she had said was true, then she was his daughter, wait, if he had a daughter, then he was a father, he was a father? Loads of emotions began flooding him, when it suddenly hit him; yes he was a father, to a daughter that was about the same age as he is!!

Naoto felt uneasy, why weren't they doing anything? Neither of them had taken out there weapons or gotten into a fighting stance, were they hostile or not? They were freedom fighters and she was a night ninja

Naruto on the other hand was trying to figure out how to tell her that he was her father, it's not like he could just go and say, oh hey, by the way, I am your father, I vanished twenty years ago in a time vortex while fighting in the war and now I have come back, give your old man a hug? Yeah, he could picture her thinking that he was a psycho, not exactly the first impression that he wanted to give her, so he figured he would do the only thing he could do "How is your mother?" he asked her

"How would you know my mom? She has never left the village and we have never seen you before"

"I...Just know her, how is she?" he asked her again

"She is alright, although probably freaking out right now" Naoto said while lowering her weapon since she figured they were not hostile, at least not at the moment

"Why?" Naruto asked her

"Well after I told her about you, she and sensei got all weird and told me to stay at home while they looked into something, when I asked the reason she told me nothing, so, I kind of left without telling her, and she is really, really overprotective"

"Yeah, she can be emotional at times" he said remembering how happy they were together only days ago, at least to him it was only days ago

"how would you know?" she asked him again

"Uh, stories that Sasuke here has told me, did you know they use to be team mates before the war?" he said trying to change the subject quickly

"She doesn't talk much about her past; she says it reminds her too much of my father" Naoto told him, but she was finding it hard not to run up to him and hold him tightly, she didn't know why, but she felt a connection with this boy, maybe this was love at first sight? Or maybe this was what her mother meant when she said she would know when the guy for her would show up.

Suddenly two other presences had arrived "Itachi?" Sasuke asked confused

"Sensei?" Naoto asked equally confused at how fast he found her, also confused at why was he standing side by side with a freedom fighter?

"So it is you…Lord Hokage Sama" Itachi said as he got down on one knee and bowed his head

"Namikaze Naruto" Toshiro simply said "You have finally returned

"WHAT? Are you guys out of your MIND! How can he be the Hokage, he died twenty years ago… He was my father! So he is NOT the Hokage"

This is what Naruto had feared would happen, Naoto was freaking out, and with good reason

"Naoto…" Toshiro said as he began walking towards her

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!! WHAT OTHER LIES HAVE YOU ALL BEEN HIDING FROM ME?!" she said as she raised her blade again, but this time at her own sensei "Is this how you and mom want to treat me? Is this what you wanted to keep from me last night?"

"Naoto, I am sorry but… We didn't know for sure"

"You both always treat me like a child, like I can't handle things like this, news flash! I am almost nineteen!" She said in anger

"Naoto…" Naruto said as he tried to walk towards her

"Stay away from me, I don't know you, you're not my father, my father was a great man who fought and died for his country, I don't know who you are, as for you, I feel betrayed, even if you weren't sure, you should have told me something, ANYTHING, instead you kept me in the dark, and I had to find out like this! So stay away from me!" she said before she vanished in a pink blur

Naruto's and Toshiro's hearts were breaking apart, that's when Toshiro realize that he was in the middle of possibly the three most powerful leaf ninja's, although he had no reason to believe he was in any danger, he still had to be careful

Naruto began running in the direction Naoto left but Toshiro called out to him

"Let her go for now, it's useless, she is just like her mother when she gets In this mood, you will only make things worst"

"She is my daughter damn it! I want to be able to hold her and tell her everything will be alright, and who the hell are you, and how do you know so much about her? I have a feeling that you are more than just her sensei"

"Indeed I am, I have watched over her and her mother since the day she left the resistance, I am also Naoto's godfather, I promised Sakura that I would protect them both"

"So what, your saying you two are…" Naruto said wanting to literally beat the crap out of him

"No of course not, we are just close friends…"

"What he says is true Hokage Sama, I have kept my own eye on them, and Sakura only loved you, had it not been for Naoto, she may had taken her own life just to be with you again in the afterlife"

Naruto's eyes began to water realizing just how much he had missed, but he had to make things right, starting with Naoto, then Sakura

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**End Chapter 30

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Wow, that was a long one, Naoto and Naruto have finally been reuinited, but things didn't turn out well now did they? to find out what happens next, you will have to wait for chapter 31, so read, rave, review!!


	31. Chapter 31

Here is chapter 31, it feels so small compared to my 5000 word chapter 30, this one only has 2100, but still, they all can't be big :P and there was a time when 2000 words as a lot lol, anyway there is A LOT of action in this one, so hope you all enjoy it, one last thing, once again, on the night chapter 30 was released, i hit 1000 hits for the second time in a week :D yay for the story being popular lol, anyway now for my lovely reviewers

Sintar07- indeed, i loved that line as well :D and agree with it actually lol, in bleach, she is really nice and all, but she is a total idiot with brest :P but so is orahime for what mater...what's with the bleach girls losing there IQ when they have big brests? :P anyway thanks for the review, hope you keep reading :D

naru-ca-titan - wow, that was really entertaining to read :D please continue with your random add'ness, its much much fun ;) oh I ALSO LOVE PUDDING! specially banana pudding or vanila, not much of a chocolate pudding fan though, and i hate butterscotch, anyway keep the reviews coming, they make me smile every time :P i hope you enjoy chapter 31

Soot-R - Welcome to the wonderful world of FanFiction dot net :D i hope you continue to enjoy my story as you read it, thank's for the review

chickenman00712 - Being stuck without a computer sucks!! :( But awesome that your cough up again thanks for the compliments and keep reading and reviewing, enjoy the chapter

crsstlk - its here, its here, its here :P lol the wait is over, because i give you chapter 31 :D thanks for the review, and i hope you enjoy :)

RSfan - Not exacley, when you think about it, the country has been invaded and occupied by the night country before she was even born, she had no real ties or loyalties to the leaf, yes, her mother had told her about her father, but Toshiro is also a night ninja, and she looks up to him, almost like a big brother, were as she has no reason to join the resistance, or any of the other hidden villages, so its only logical for her to join the night ninja's and be with Toshiro, the one she respects the most :) I hope you enjoy chapter 31, thanks for the review, you always bring good things to the table :)

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 31  
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Naoto was running as fast as she could, she didn't care where she was going, as long as it was away from the pain and the lies "I hate them, I hate them all!! How could they lie to me like that, specially mom and Toshiro" she said as her eyes were tearing up

Meanwhile, back with the guys, there was an awkward silence, Toshiro knew that he was partly the cause of it, he was a night ninja among a group of resistance members, this continued for well over ten minutes, Itachi was staring in the direction Naoto took off, he suddenly took out a scroll from his vest and opened it up "This isn't good…" he simply said

"What?" Sasuke asked him

"We are on the edge of the borders, we are still in night country controlled territory that use to belong to the grass, but to the north of here is earth country"

Toshiro suddenly became pale

"What? What's wrong? Are the Night and earth at war?" Naruto asked

"No…They are neutral, however they have warned us that if any night ninja were to cross into their territory, they would be captured on the spot to be tortured for information, then executed"

"WHAT?! How can your Kurokage do nothing about that?" Naruto shouted

"Keeping the fire nation in check, as well as keeping the sand from invading has kept our forces tied up, we can't afford to be at war with another major power, that's why we were ordered never to cross into their boarders to minimize the chance of having them declare war"

"Well I am not a night ninja, and I won't let them lay a single finger on my daughter" Naruto said as he began to run in the direction Naoto had left fallowed by Itachi, Sasuke and finally Toshiro

Naoto was still running as fast as she could, for some reason it made the pain feel better if she just kept on running, she never realized that she had crossed the border and was now being tracked by Rock ninja's from the earth, suddenly a large wall of rock erupted in front of her, she almost slammed into it, then the wall continued to surround her until she was trapped "Well, well, well, what do we have here? A little night ninja, you are a long way from your home little girl" the man said as he let out a laugh

Naoto was petrified, she had a mix of emotions, fear, anger, sadness, and they were all converging into one huge ball of emotion

"The Tsuchikage is going to like this one, she's a cutie" One of them said as the earth prison got smaller and smaller until Naoto could not move a muscle, there was only a small hole big enough to allow her to breath, she felt herself being picked up and carried, her emotions continued to run wild, a red aura began to surround the rock prison, the one carrying it set it back down "What's this? Is she trying to break free?" He said letting out a small laugh "Give it up girly, this rock is harder than anything you could throw at it"

But his grin vanished as the rock prison shattered into pieces, they were all surprise to see what had happened, Naoto opened her eyes, they were now red, her nails turned to claws and her teeth turned into fangs, the rock ninja's began making hand signs, rocks erupted around her, wrapping her body up in multiple lairs of rock, Naoto tried desperately to break free "Well, you are much stronger than we thought you were, but there is no way you can…" the rocks shattered once more as the red aura intensified, two tails had formed as her whiskers marks got darker

"What the hell? Is that the nine tails? I thought he died along with that kid twenty years ago!" one of them said horrified

Naoto jumped on one of them without warning with lightning speed, her claws ripped the man's clothing to shreds as she sank her fangs into his throat before jumping off, blood was gushing out of his throat as the man grabbed it with both his hands, but it was useless, he died within seconds, more rock ninja's appeared, some of them were Junins "We have to kill her" one of the men said

"NO! if we can somehow capture her, we can try and learn where this power of hers comes from, the Tsuchikage will reward us all greatly!" another said

One of them threw a kunai, Naoto did nothing to avoid it, It pierced her left arm, she grabbed it and took it out as blood began pouring from her wound, but to their amazement, it began healing instantly, she threw the kunai back at the one who had thrown it at her, it went straight through his body and pieced his heart, the man coughed out blood before falling down and dying "If we can capture her inside a rock prison one more time, we might be able to hold her long enough to administer her a sedative!" one of them suggested

"I don't think she is going to let us capture her again" the other simply said

They suddenly all began making hand signs, rocks began to fly at her from every direction, she was dodging them with ease, and the ones she couldn't dodge she would break with her own claws, but the barrage of rocks was intensifying soon one of them hit her in the face, and another, and another, her body was being pummelled by the rocks, and then the ground opened up under her and sucked her in before closing "Quickly, give her the sedative now!" one of them said as he penetrated the ground as if it was water, there was only silence as they waited for him to return

Seconds seemed like hours, suddenly the man was thrown out of the ground "what happened, did you give her the sedative?" one of them asked

"No..RUN!" he simply said trying to get back to his feet, but it was too late, the ground exploded as chakara poured out of Naoto, a third and fourth tail had appeared "We can't stop her" the man cried out as Naoto grabbed him by the collar, he looked into her blood red eyes with fear before her fist went through his body making him cough blood before dying

Naruto and the others had arrived at the border and could see Naoto and the multiple dead rock ninja's as she killed the others "What…happened to her?" Sasuke said in a horrified tone "Is that's the Kyuubi's power?"

"But that's impossible, the Kyuubi wasn't locked away in her" Itachi said horrified at what he saw

"It's not the Kyuubi, or well, yes it is, but it's the Namikaze blood limit" Naruto told them

"Blood Limit?" Sasuke asked him confused

"It was part of the deal I made with Kyuubi, but why has she lost control? I was able to go into the Kyuubi state and stayed in control" he said, wanting answers he bit his thumb and made hand signs "SUMMONING JUTSU!" he screamed out slamming his hand on the ground, once more the small version of the Kyuubi appeared in front of them

"Yes my lord?" He asked him

"Explain that!" he said pointing at Naoto who was on a killing rampage not far from them

"I see" he simply said

"You see? What is it? You said that we could go into this state without losing control!"

"Tell me, is this the first time she has used the power?" he asked them

Naruto looked at Toshiro "I never even knew she had this power…"

"And has anything emotional happened to her?" he asked again

"Yeah…" Naruto responded

"Then it's simple, she tapped into the power the same way you use to tap into the power, by your emotions, and since she had never used this power before, she was overwhelmed by it, she also has unleashed the full power by the looks of it as the four tails are out"

"But I didn't lose control when I tapped into the power!" Naruto said

"No, but you tapped into the powers willingly, she obviously stumbles upon it by accident, not knowing what it was, she released it, you on the other hand, have used the power multiple times before, she should only have started with going into the Kyuubi state rather then unleash the tail powers"

"So how do we stop it?!" Toshiro asked concerned for Naoto

"You can't" he simply answered

"WHAT?!" Naruto screamed at him

"I am sorry my lord, I guess I should explain what I meant, she has lost total control of her emotions and the power is running wildly, however you need not worry because it's not like there is a fox trying to break out of her like you use to have with me, once her chakara runs out, she will pass out and return to normal"

"So your saying all we have to do is sit back and wait?" Itachi asked

"Basically, that's all you can do" Kyuubi said

"Uh guys, I think she is done playing with her friends" Sasuke said as he saw her kill the last rock ninja, she turned her head and saw them, Sasuke was afraid she would attack them, but to his surprise, she turned her back on them, and in a pink flash, she disappeared from there sight

"She is going deeper into earth territory, this is bad" Toshiro said

"We have to fallow her, the Kyuubi state has also given her the ability to run much faster, if we stay here, we will lose her" Naruto said as he began running across the border and into earth territory, followed by Sasuke and Itachi, Toshiro had not moved, Naruto stopped and looked at him "Well? What are you waiting for?" he asked him

"I have orders not to enter earth nation's borders…I can't go"

"WHAT? You are saying you are going to allow Naoto to run off on her own? Isn't she your subordinate?" Itachi screamed at him

Toshiro was being shredded up inside, on one end, he had his duty and loyalty to his country, on the other end he had Naoto, memories of happy times he had with her began flooding his mind, of how he played with her as a child, of how he chased away someone who made her cry, of how he carried her on his back when she was tired, the day he gave her the necklace, the time he saw her put her heart on the line by telling a boy she liked him, and he rejected her because of her mark causing her to run away crying , and how he made the boy pay for making her cry, all the times he had sworn to protect her and Sakura, her smiling face came into his mind, he took off his night headband and stared at it, he dropped it onto the ground and threw away his white cloak indicating his rank as a captain onto the ground leaving only his black kimono, he quickly joined them "Let's go save Naoto" he simply said as they began tracking her down once again

Meanwhile Sakura had dropped her glass of water "something horrible has happened to my baby…" she simply said, she didn't know why, but she had a feeling something had happened to Naoto "I have to go to her; I have to save my little girl!" she quickly ran to her room and dragged out an old chest, she took a key from her dresser and opened it, inside it were her old red leaf headband and her weapons pouch, she strapped on her weapons pouch to her leg and looked at her headband "I promised myself that I would never be a shinobi again, but if Naoto is in trouble, nothing is going to stop me from coming to help her" she said as she put the headband into her hair before running out of the house

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**End Chapter 31

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	32. Chapter 32

Here it is, chapter 32 yay :D

So here are my response to your reviews :)

Sintar07 - Yay for your avatar :) Indeed, the story is heating up again isn't it? ;) i hope i am able to surprise you :D anyway enjoy the chapter and thanks for the review, keep them coming

crsstlk - Wow, thanks :) I can only hope you like chapter 32 as much, thanks for the review, and thanks for your continued support :)

RSfan - aww, don't cry, you keep me on my toes :P just like that comment that team Konohamaru and the others should not be that sloppy as to leave behind a trace since they have been part of the resistance for 20 years :P so keep reviewing, and thanks for your support :)

Soot-R - No more waiting for you cause its here :D yay for chapter 32 lol, thanks for the review, hope you enjoy the story

naru-ca-titan - I know you didn't review this chapter, but i just wanted to say, i had pudding at work today, it was good :) hope you are able to review this chapter

I would also like to give a shout to some reviewers i seem to have lost along the way

Ymere Last chapter reviewed 24 - xzavx Last chapter reviewed 20

Hey guys "possibly girls? :P", i hope your still reading, you use to be a regular reviewer, so i really hope you are still reading and enjoying the story

also a special shout to woowoo13 , my very first reviewer, however i never saw you again :( i hope you are still reading and enjoying the story

Well that's everyone, thanks for the reviews everyone, and here is chapter 32!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 32  
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Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, Toshiro and Kyuubi were pursuing Naoto who was still running away from them, leading them deeper into earth territory "How much chakara does that girl have?" Sasuke asked

"I don't know, I once tried to push her to her limits, but I ended up running out before she did" Toshiro stated

"If she is anything like her father, she has a lot of it" Kyuubi added

"What I don't understand is, what is driving her? When I lost control, you were the one controlling my actions, so what is controlling hers?" Naruto asked

"Pure emotions, whatever her strongest emotion is right now, is driving her, back when she was fighting, it was the fear of being capture, now, I don't know why, but its anger and sadness"

"I feel horrible" Toshiro said "This is partly my fault; I shouldn't have kept anything from her"

"It's not like you knew anything, what were you going to tell her, Naoto, I think that boy you just met was your father, and you let him get away?" Naruto stated "If anything, this is my fault, if I wouldn't have screwed up twenty years ago, none of this would have happened" he added

"It's not like you knew he was going to throw you into a time vortex, this is no one's fault, Let's just focus on catching up with her" Sasuke said jumping into the conversation

"But why is she running deeper into earth country? I understand that her emotions are making her run away from Naruto and Toshiro, but if she knows this is earth country, why is she still running towards it"

"She isn't thinking rationally, basically, think of a cornered animal, her basic instincts are telling her to run in the direction you are not" The Kyuubi explained to them

They found a squad of mostly dead rock ninja's, one of them was pinned to a tree by 4 kunais driven through his body "The demon, the demon, horrible demon" he kept on repeating as he was clearly in shock, Naruto was angered at him for calling Naoto a demon, but he had to admit that in her current state, she was no better than a demon, as much as it pained him to think of her as such

"You, What direction did the girl run in?" Toshiro asked the man

"Evil, horrible, she killed us all, one by one, ripped his head off, left me for dead, but I just won't die, why won't I die? The demon…" he just kept on rambling on

Sasuke walked up to him and examined him "His wounds are fatal, his liver has been pierced, he has about 5 minutes left to live by the looks of it, the humane thing to do is end his pain" he said as he lifted his blade, the man looked at him

"Thank you…" he said as Sasuke ended the man's life quickly

"I believe she went this way" Kyuubi said

"What makes you think that?" Toshiro asked

"The smell of blood is still fresh on her, I can smell it clearly" he simply said

"But that goes straight to Iwa, there is no way she can defeat the hidden village in the rocks, no matter how strong she is" Itachi stated

Meanwhile inside the city if Iwa, the Tsuchikage was training, one of his guards entered his training grounds "Tsuchikage Sama" he said as he got down on one knee and bowed his head

"What is it? Can't you see that I am in the middle of training?" He simply said annoyed at being disturbed

"I am very sorry my lord, but we have news from the borders"

"What is it now?" He asked still annoyed

"A night Ninja, and a group of renegade Konoha ninja's have entered our lands my lord"

"What? How dare they! I told the Kurokage that anyone entering our borders would be taken care of!"

"The night ninja is a young girl with extraordinary powers, she has already killed some of our best ninja's, one of the survivors that was able to report back even stated that she had demon like powers, almost like the ones of the long thought lost nine tailed fox"

"Really now? Interesting, I want this girl captured right away, we will dissect her piece by piece if we must to find the source of her power, what of these Konoha renegades?"

"Two of them have been identified as the Uchiha brothers my lord"

"So the renegade leader and his famous brother huh? And the others?"

"One of them has hair as white as snow and a black Kimono, but no headband my lord"

"Hair as white as snow? Did he have a white cloak with the number ten on it?"

"No my lord, only the black Kimono"

"I see, is that it?"

"No, there is a fourth one my lord, he is dressed in orange and black, he also wears what seems to be a Kage hat my lord, but it is black and orange in color my lord, there is also a small fox that seems to have nine tailed running by his side"

"What? Are you certain of this?" he asked him

"Yes my lord, do you know this man?" he asked

"If it is who I think it is, then he is trouble, but it's impossible, it has to be someone else, but the presence of the fox makes it hard to deny"

"Who is it my lord?"

"I can't say for sure, but it could very well be the Hokage of Konoha, long thought lost twenty years ago at the start of their war, I was only a kid back then, but I remember the reports, it was believed that he was on the verge of defeating the Kurokage when in a last ditch effort he was killed by some unknown jutsu, or so we believed"

"What should we do my lord?"

"Mobilize the ANBU, capture the girl at all cost, then gather my personal guard, I am going after this ghost" he stated as the guard bowed before fallowing his orders

Sakura had left the village and was running at full speed, not knowing where to go, but she knew her mother's intuition would lead her to her baby girl "**If anyone has HURT HER, I WILL RIP THERE HEADS OFF**" Inner Sakura screamed, suddenly she is stopped by a small team as they blocked her path

A women bearing the armband with the number ten on it lead the three man team "And where do you think you're going?" she asked her

"Matsumoto, get out of my way" Sakura simply asked in a calm voice

"I don't think I can do that my dear" she said with a smug grin

"I am not a prisoner here, now will you please get out of my way" she tried asking politely once more

"No of course not, you're not a prisoner, and up until recently, you were a valued citizen of the night country"

"Until recently?"

"That headband of yours, it's that of the renegades, now I know you have a very close relationship with the captain, how close, I don't know, and frankly I don't care, but I cannot allow you to pass, now just come with us back to the base, we will just ask a few questions, then you will hand over that headband, you should know if you were anyone else, I would take you straight to the Kurokage, where he would personally execute you"

"My little girl is in danger, and no one, not even a huge pair of breast are going to stop me!" Sakura said in anger as she began making hand signs, although she had not been a shinobi in over twenty years, she had not allowed herself to get sloppy, she did regular training sessions, even spared with Toshiro and helped Naoto as well, Matsumoto was angered by the breast comment as she took out her Katana, but Sakura had finished her hand signs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" there were now well over 100 Sakura's, they surrounded the small group of night ninja's

"You understand that by doing this, you are putting yourself on the renegade list right? Not even the captain can save you"

"If it means saving my little girl, then I would gladly bare any consequences that comes with my actions" She said as she lunched her attack, every clone concentrated just enough power into their fist to knock their targets out Matsumoto's escort were quickly taken out, but she had been able to avoid the attack

"Do you think such a simple trick would work on me?"

"What do you know, the breast has brains after all" Sakura said with a grin

"SHUT UP BITCH!" She said in anger "I have wanted to kill you for a long time! And once I am done with you, I will take your daughter in for questioning, if her mother turned renegade, who knows what her daughter would do"

Sakura snapped "IF YOU DARE EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING MY NAOTO, I WILL KILL YOU, I WILL PERSONALLY PUNCTURE EVERY SINGLE NON VITAL ORGAN AND MAKE YOU BLEED SLOWLY TO DEATH, MAKING YOU BEG FOR ME TO END IT!" "**YEAH, TELL THAT COW WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND!**" Inner screamed in agreement

"As if you even have the power to lay a single finger on me" Matsumoto said in an arrogant tone

"You're right, I won't just lay a single finger on you, I already have two hands around your ankles" she said with a grin

Matsumoto looked at her feet, and indeed, she was being held by 2 hands coming out of the ground, she tried to get free, but the grip only got tighter

"Now to teach you an old move that I learned a long time ago, watching the strongest Hokage to come from Konoha create on the fly" Sakura and a few clones began to run, four of them kick her screaming out "U, ZU, MA, KI" as the hands holding her down release her flying into the air, while Sakura jumps on the back of another clone kicking her on the back of her head screaming out "NARUTO RENDAN" Matsumoto was slammed into the ground, the force of Sakura's last attack was enough to create a crater under Matsumoto's body as she had filled her kick with chakara

Matsumoto was not moving an inch, she was knocked out cold "**TAKE THAT YOU BIG BREAST FREAK, EAT SOME GRASS LIKE THE COW THAT YOU ARE**" Inner Sakura screamed in victory as she showed the peace sign and grinned "Don't mess with my girl, if you do, next time I won't just knock you out" she said to the unconscious Matsumoto

Sakura knew that there was no going back, she had just struck down a night vice captain, her peaceful life had come to an end as she would now be hunted down like the rest of the resistance members, she took one last look at the small village in the distance, the village that had been her home for the past twenty years, where Naoto was born, and had grown up into the young women that she was today, a tear ran down her cheek, but she didn't have the time to feel sorry for what she had just done, Naoto needed her, and as her mother, she was going to be there for her as she began running north

Naruto and his group were getting worried, they could barely feel Naoto's chakara anymore, meaning she was far ahead of them "We have to pick up the pace!" Naruto screamed at them

"Look, you two are faster than us, just go on ahead, we will catch up" Sasuke said

"Are you sure? We are deep within earth held territory, what if they attack you?" Naruto asked concerned for his friend

"That's not important, Naoto's life is in danger, you guys go on ahead"

Naruto looked at Toshiro who nodded at him indicating he was ready to fallow "Kyuubi, stay behind with them, make sure nothing happens to them" he simply said

"Yes my lord, I will protect them with my life"

Naruto suddenly vanished in a yellow flash, as did Toshiro in a white flash

Meanwhile Naoto was heading in a straight line that would take her to Iwa's main gate, suddenly a small group of rock ninjas are standing in her bath, they all bared the masks of the elite ANBU of the rock

"There she is!" one of them screamed out they began making hand signs, multiple rocks came out from the ground, they changed into iron before forming into darts, they began flying towards Naoto' she tried to dodge them, but there were too many of them, they pierced her skin in multiple places, but it would just heal right away, she took out her Katana

"Hurricane winds!" she screamed out as she swung her blade at them, a large gust of wind blew the darts away

"What power, not only does she heal instantly, but her command of the wind is strong"

Four of them sat in a square formation, creating a perimeter, they began making hand seals, from behind them four large iron beams came out from the ground, and large iron walls began forming closing them all inside, even the sky was being blocked

Naoto looked around her, the four ninja's were not moving, and the rest of them were surrounding her, she launched an attack against one of the ninja's sitting still, but iron suddenly surrounded him and her blade only ricochet off, she looked at the other three, and iron had also formed to protect them, she was unable to strike at any of the four men that had formed the pillars

The rest of the team closed in on Naoto, she felt cornered, she was trapped, nowhere left to go, she lifted her Katana "Tornado blast!" she screamed out sending a gush of wind strong enough to send them all flying into the walls of the iron prison, but suddenly, two of the tails disappeared and she fell onto one knee feeling weak

One of the ninja's got back onto his feet "The barrier is working, she is getting weaker as we drain her chakara" he screamed out as the others got back to their feet

Naoto got back to her own feet as she drew her blade in front of her, her instincts didn't understand why she had just lost so much chakara, but her fear of being captured was getting stronger, she felt that her only chance was to somehow break out of there, she turned her attention to the walls of the iron prison and raised her blade "Hurricane force fire destruction level 30!" she screamed, combining 2 techniques together as her Katana shot out a fireball surrounded by winds, much like when Naruto shot his rasengan surrounded by the winds, it hit the wall's of the prison with force sending Naoto flying all the way against the other side of the prison wall as her back hit with force, causing her to cough up some blood

The rock ninja's looked in amazement, there was a very large dent along with a small hole that had been created, although it was being repaired quickly, no one had ever managed to do any type of damage to the structure before, this girl was no pushover, she got back to her feet, however her two last tails disappeared, even the red aura around her body was very faint as her nails had returned to normal, her eyes were still slightly red, but they could now see the blue background, her fangs had also reduced in size as she was panting heavily

"We almost have her!" one of them screamed out

"She looks weak enough to capture, get in formation" screamed another, they all surrounded her

They made hand signs as four similar pillars to the ones outside surrounded Naoto, they quickly formed a box around her, she was trapped, but the box got smaller and smaller until her entire body was encased, she screamed in pain as one of the ninja's hit the box with an electrical jutsu, the red aura that was around the box dissipated, they waited for a few minutes "her chakara has been completely drained, remove the seals" suddenly both the large prison and the small one encasing Naoto disappeared, Naoto was laying on the ground with her eyes shut, all of her chakara drained away, she had reverted back into her original form, one of them picked her up by the collar to confirm she wouldn't be a threat anymore

"She is completely drained and passed out, let's get her out of here, our scientist will want to get to work on her as soon as possible" they said as they left the area carrying Naoto away with them

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**End Chapter 32

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	33. Chapter 33

Here is chapter 33, not as large as other chapters, but not small either

oh also i have updated the description of the story, i no longer felt this was centered around bringing Sasuke back since when i begun this story, i had no idea it would expand into...this :P so i have you all to thank for your support, this is the new description

**Naruto has brought Sasuke back with Sakura's help, but war is on the horizon, a new enemy that no one has ever seen before has shown up and threatens everything he holds dear? NaruxSaku**

i think its better then the old one :P

Now for my reviewers

RSfan - Thanks for the review, i can't give you a specific reason as to the why she decided to put her old headband on, one could theorize its a feeling of loyalty towards her old village, but i don't have an honest answer for you, i just wanted her to put it on :P

crsstlk - if i ever find the time, i will see if i can read it, this is my day, i get up, go to work, go to the gym "training to join the RCMP, that's the Canadian Federal police force :P" come home eat, relax a bit, write a chapter, and go to bed :P so if i can squeeze a bit of reading in during the weekend, i may look into that story, but thanks for mentioning it :) and thanks for the review

chickenman00712 -OH NOES THE MIGHTY CLIFF HANGERS HAVE RETURNED :P lol jk ;) hope you enjoy this newest chapter, thanks again for the review

Bombat1994 - LOL god i wish lol err i mean no, as a future RCMP officer, i would never consider drugs :P lol jk, but seriously, i am just so inspired to write this story, and with the support of my awesome reviewers, it just makes me want to post these chapters as fast as i can :) Hope you keep on enjoying the story, and thanks for the review

naru-ca-titan - Yay your back, and oh no, you may not want to read the first part of the chapter :( but you must, i hope you enjoy chapter 33, thanks for your always awesome and entertaining reviewers :D

Well that's everyone, thanks again you guys, without you, i wouldn't be around to post this story :D

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 33  
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Naoto was tied down to a metal table, most of her clothing had been stripped off and multiple tests were being conducted on the young girl, she slowly began to regain consciousness "Where…am I" she said still woozy and disorientated

"Ah, she is awake" one of the rock medical Nin stated

Naoto began to realize that her body was restrained and that she only had her underwear still covering her "WHAT AM I DOING HERE? WHO ARE YOU WHERE AM I?" she screamed in fear

"My my, you sure are noisy when your awake, I am the head doctor here at Iwa, you are at the secret research wing of the hospital and well, you have been captured" he simply said while reading over some of his tests results on her

"What? How did I get here!"

"You crossed our borders, murdered our shinobis, then the ANBU captured you" he simply said as he stuck a needle inside her skin

"What are you doing to me!" she demanded to know as she tried to break away from the restraints

"Trying to figure out what makes you tick, do not worry, I am a professional, I don't play with my work" he said with a grin as he stuck some unknown substance into her body

"Let me go!" she cried

"I am sorry, but you are much too valuable to us, but perhaps you can help me, how did you get those powers of yours" he asked her

"Powers?" She asked him puzzled, suddenly she began to remember running into a group of rock ninjas, she had been captured, and she was very afraid, she remembered sensing a power that she had never sensed within her before, she remembered tapping into the power, but it went black from there "I…don't know, I don't remember anything, what are you doing?" she asked him as he was sticking multiple things in her

"This is going to hurt, I am sorry, but I can't give you any sedatives, they would interfere with my results, oh and if your thinking about activating that power of yours again, forget it, this other device here is keeping your chakara at a minimum level" he said plainly as he switch on a device

Naoto began screaming in pain, she tried desperately to break free, but her bonds were too strong, after five minutes of agonizing pain, she slowly began to black out, the doctor stopped the device

"outstanding, her threshold for pain is remarkably high for a female so young, most men twice her age would have passed out after ten seconds" he said as he wrote down notes on his papers "It's a shame, she is so young and beautiful, but orders are orders" he said as he rolled out his tools

Meanwhile Naruto and Toshiro were nearing Iwa, in their path were the Tsuchikage and a few of his guards, Naruto and Toshiro stopped in front of them "Tsuchikage…" Toshiro simply said

"So it is you, tenth division captain of the night country, and…Are you really the last Hokage of the leaf? No you can't be, your younger then I am, he would be in his late thirties"

"I am Namikaze Naruto, sixth Hokage of the leaf, whether you believe it or not, I don't care, I just want my daughter back, you better not have done anything to her!" Naruto said

"How can you have a daughter her age, your no older than eighteen or twenty" the Tsuchikage said confused

"It's complicated, do you, or do you not have her"

"At this moment, she has probably been captured and is being analyzed, if she survives, she will never be the same again" he said with a grin

Naruto's anger was on the rise, a red aura began to surround his body, his fangs grew instantly as did his claws, his sky blue eyes turned red instantly"

"Naruto, let me take care of these guys, you go and save Naoto"

"Are you sure you can take these guys on without my help? He Is a Kage after all"

Toshiro grinned "I may only be a simple captain of the night country" he took out his katana and raised it in the air "BAN-KAI" he screamed out, a very cool air filled the area, once the smoke was cleared, Toshiro's hands were covered in ice, the ice continued as if coming out from his back, looking like wings, he raised his katana and swung it, the Tsuchikage jumped out of the way, but his escort were frozen on the spot "I am at a Kage level myself…" he calmly said completing his sentence"There was a reason why I made captain at the age of nine, and to this day, am still the strongest captain of the night country, so don't worry about me, just go!"

Naruto was amazed, his chakara was enormous, but he didn't have any time to waste, if Naoto had really been captured, she was in grave danger, in a flash he disappeared

The Tsuchikage got back to his feet "Heh, so the rumours about you are true then"

"Actually, whatever rumours about me you have, are probably wrong, I am at least ten times stronger then what you may think" he said in a very calm voice

"Really funny, I am the Tsuchikage, you can't fool me with such a stupid taunt"

"It is no taunt, I have never revealed my true powers to anyone, I never had a reason to, but now I do"

"Oh? And why would that be?"

"Naoto means more to me than anything on this earth, she may be his daughter, but I saw her grow up, I carried her on my back when she fell down and scrapped her knee, I saw every single one of her birthdays, I trained her, she is my god daughter, and you picked the wrong girl to screw around with" his calm demeanour had changed, his eyes were full of anger towards the Tsuchikage and the rock, the area suddenly begun to feel much, much cooler as the Tsuchikage's breath was showing condensation as the warm air from his longs hit the cold air outside his body

"If your all that powerful, then show me" he simply said

"I can't"

"What? So it was all talk then?"

"Of course not, what I meant was, as soon as I unleash my powers, you won't survive it"

"HAHAHA Seriously, you are beginning to bore me, I will show you the real powers of a Kage, and it's not talking my opponent to death!"

But before he could do anything, Toshiro began making hand signs at the speeds that the Tsuchikage had never seen before "Winter Blizzard of the arctic storm" a huge storm suddenly erupted, freezing everything in its path, the Tsuchikage quickly made his own hand signs, rock surrounded his area giving him a shelter

"Hah, if that kid thinks that this is going to kill me…" but to his surprise, the snow was entering the safety of the rock, he quickly began making other hand signs, the rock was replaced with iron, but it was no use, more and more snow was getting threw, suddenly the iron shelter itself was starting to freeze, the Tsuchikage touched it slightly with his hand, and it shattered into pieces, he could not believe his eyes, he could not see anything, everything was white, and he felt his limbs begin to freeze, he quickly tried to run out of the area, but no matter where he ran, the storm was there, he lost feelings to the extremities of his fingers and toes, suddenly Toshiro came out of nowhere slicing at his arm causing massive injury, the blood froze the instant it began pouring from the wound, he was slowly losing all feelings to his arm, he tried to do hand signs, multiple large boulders appeared above Toshiro's head, he had even seen them but made no attempt at moving, they crashed down on him, but to the Tsuchikage surprise, they turned into ice as soon as they got close to him, they were now floating in the air, they begun flying towards the Tsuchikage, striking him multiple times and causing massive injuries all over his body "Please, I beg you, spare my life"

"Will your doctors and scientist take pity on Naoto as she begs for them to stop, as they cause her pain, as they do their experiments on her, making her cry, I think not, why should I show you any kind of sympathy"

"If you let me live, I will let her go"

"How much do you know about Namikaze Naruto?"

"What?"

"I actually know quite a bit, spending the last twemtu years with the women that loved him, I have been able to gather a lot of information on him, he never gives up, he will fight with everything he has, and if you have wronged someone he loves, well then I have pity on you, dying by my hand will be merciful compared to what he would do to you if I let you live, once he sees what you have done to his little girl'

The Tsuchikage's skin began to slowly turn blue , he could feel his heart rate decreasing as his body began to freeze completely, ice began to form on his body until it was entirely covered "Naoto, I am sorry, I broke my promise to you, because of my carelessness, you are experiencing pain right now, I don't know if you will ever be able to forgive me, I don't even know if I will ever be able to forgive myself" He said as he raised his Katana and hit the Tsuchikage's frozen body, it broke into pieces "But at least, the one who had caused you pain has paid for it" he said as the storm began to dissipate and the sun began to shine through, Toshiro fell down to one knee, using his Katana as a crutch not to fall completely "I never had a family of my own, you and your mother had always been there to fill that void in my life" he said as he collapsed on his stomach, he turned his head towards the side as his eyes began to shut

Ino and Shikamaru were walking together, they had not spent any time alone together in a while "You know, it's nice being able to spend some time away from the kids, don't you think?"

"Yeah I guess" he simply said while staring at the clouds in the sky, wishing he could join them

"Shikamaru, are you even listening?" but Shikamaru was lost in his thoughts "ARG Why did I ever fall for a guy like you" Ino said pouting

Shikamaru sighed, he vanished for a few seconds, and came back with a flower and gave it to Ino with a smile, Ino grabbed with as she smelt it and hugged him "I guess it must be my irresistible charm" he said with a grin

"Yeah, sure, that **_must _**be it" Ino said teasingly, suddenly something pink ran passed them, it wasn't as fast as a flash, but whoever it was, was in a hurry "Was that Sakura?" Ino asked

"I think so, where is she going in such a hurry?" Shikamaru stated

"Never mind that, we haven't seen her in… well since she left the resistance, and now she just pops out of nowhere, come on, let's find out what's going on"

"She didn't look like she was in the mood for chit chatting"

"If your too lazy to keep up, fine go back home and make dinner or something"

Shikamaru sighed "Why did I ever fall for someone like you"

"You mean other then because I am incredibly hot, sexy, smart, caring, amazing..," she continued on

"Sakura is getting away…" Shikamaru pointed out

Ino suddenly stopped talking and began running after her fallowed by Shikamaru, they cough up to her after a few minutes "SAKURA!" Ino screamed out, but Sakura did not stop, or slow down "Where are you going?" Ino asked again "Does it have anything to do with Naruto?"

Sakura suddenly stopped running, followed by Ino and Shikamaru "What did you just say?"

"Uh… You did know right?" Ino asked cautiously

"KNOW WHAT?" Sakura shouted out

"That Naruto… Has returned…"

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**End Chapter 33**

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Here is an other one done! What will happen to Naoto? will Naruto arrive in time to stop any major physical and psychological damage from happening? find out soon :D read, rave, review :)


	34. Chapter 34

here is Chapter 34, fanfic has been a bad little website, i had this chapter done hours ago and wanted to post it, but the document up loader wouldn't let me, anyway, i had to edit an other chapter in order to get to post this lol anyway here are my reviewers

gilmaxter -yea i love to update this story, thanks for the review :D

chickenman00712 - Thanks for the review, i am always happy to see your responces :)

Bombat1994 - lol yes, i am on crack :D lol jk, thanks for the review

Sintar07 - thanks for the review, Toshiro threw all of his chakara in that attack, although, well read this chapter, because something happens, as for Sakura, no, she didn't KNOW, she had a vague description given to her by her daughter, Ino confirmed that it was indeed him and that he was back :) thanks for the review

nanny kiwi gurl - Indeed, more power to naruxsaku :D thanks for the review

Soot-R- thanks for the review, and unfortunately, more bad things happen to Naoto in this chapter :(

Well that's everyone, fanfic dot net has tried to stop me from posting, because i am so awesome and post way to much, but i have beaten the system MUHAHAHA 34 WILL NOT BE STOPPED :D

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 34  
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Naruto was standing in front of the main gates of Iwa, a large number Rock ninja's were standing in his way "Halt, you shall go no further, you will surrender now or be killed"

Naruto looked at them in anger "I do not have the time to deal with you, I give you these choices, get out of my way, or be killed"

The rock ninja's began to laugh "What can one ninja from the long forgotten leaf do against the entire Rock village" as they continued to laugh

The aura around Naruto only intensified as a single tail came out, they all suddenly stopped laughing "He… He has the same power as that girl"

"Hand over my daughter, and I MAY let you live, depending what you have done to her so far"

The same team that had captured Naoto had suddenly surrounded Naruto and began making their hand signs, thanks to their experience against Naoto, they knew how to deal with him, and just like against Naoto, a large iron prison appeared around Naruto

He could already feel his chakara being slowly drained "So this is how they caught her…" He thought to himself as the ANBU forces were surrounding Naruto preparing to attack him, he made a few hand signs "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" three extra Naruto's popped out, they nodded at each other as they all picked a corner to run for, they had gathered chakara in their hands, and every one of them hit the walls of the prison at the same time "RASENGAN!" they all screamed pouring as much chakara as they could into the technique, the resulting explosion sent them all flying as the three clones disappeared in a poof as they hit the ground, when the dust had cleared, the Rock ninja could not believe their eyes, the iron prison had been destroyed, the 4 ANBU who were controlling it laid dead

"That's impossible; no one has ever been able to break free"

Naruto was back on his feet, and he was angered, he knew every second he spent out here, meant Naoto was in pain just that much longer, another tail began to form

Meanwhile Sakura was staring at Ino, "That's impossible… It must be someone who looks like him, Naoto saw it too, I am sure it's just a mistake"

"That's what we thought at first, but its him Sakura, it couldn't be anyone else" Shikamaru said

"Where is he now?!"

"Well, last time we saw him, he and Sasuke Sama were on their way to see you, that's why I thought you knew" Ino said

Sakura was in shock

"It would appeared that the Kurokage's attack was a time vortex that was suppose to send him a few months into the future where they would have killed him, but something went wrong, and it sent him twenty years into the future, to him, the battle for Konoha was only a night ago" Shikamaru added

"That means that he wouldn't have aged… And the boy that Naoto saw was really him… She did say he had severe injuries, so when she found him, he must have just exited this time vortex thing, but I haven't seen him…And Naoto is missing"

"Naoto?" Ino asked

"My daughter, and Naruto's as well"

Both Ino and Shikamaru were in shock "So he had a daughter…" Ino said still not sure what to say

"Sakura, what are you doing out here, and more importantly, why are you wearing your headband again?" Shikamaru asked, Ino had not even noticed, she had to look at Sakura's head to confirm what Shikamaru had just said

"Naoto is in danger, I don't know how I know, I don't know where she is, I just know that I have to find her, and I knew, once I left that village that I probably wasn't going back, again I don't know why, but that's why I took my headband with me, and now I can't go back, I am a hunted Nin, I attacked a vice captain"

"Well you are always welcome back with us, you know, the resistance camp isn't what you remember it" Ino said with a smile

"Yeah, I will think about it, but first, I must find Naoto"

"We can help, right Shikamaru?"

He sighed, knowing that even though Ino was asking him, any answer other then, yes dear, whatever you say dear, would get him in trouble "Yes…" he said once more staring at the clouds, as he thought about how troublesome Ino was, yet worth it somehow

"Thank you guys, but I don't know where to start searching" Sakura said happy that she wasn't alone

"Well where were you heading?" Ino asked her

"North, I don't know why"

"Ino! Shikamaru!" a voice came from behind them, they were surprised to see Hanabi running towards them, and even more surprise to see her without the rest of team Naruto, since for the last twenty years, they have stuck together as a team, earning them the reputation of the oldest and most reliable team in the resistance

"Hanabi? What's wrong? Where is Konohamaru and Yuki?"

"They have entered earth country territory in pursuit of Naruto Sensei and Sasuke Sama who were seen heading that way along with Itachi and some night captain, they sent me to get some help in case we would need it"

"Did the night captain have white hair?" Sakura asked

"We didn't get a good look, but we found this at the boarder" Hanabi said showing the headband and the white cloak with ten on it

Sakura knew exactly who they belonged to "Toshiro… And there is only one reason that he would defied his orders not to cross the borders into earth nation, Naoto must have crossed herself" Sakura said as she continued to run north

"Hey wait for us!" Ino said as she, Shikamaru and Hanabi took off after her

At the same time Sasuke and Itachi had caught up with Toshiro, they found him laying motionless, they ran to his side, Sasuke felt his pulse "He is still alive, but he is weak" he said

"What happened to him? He doesn't look hurt, just exhausted"

Suddenly the earth opened up and a man rose from the depths "Powerful little bugger, he almost had me" the man that Sasuke recognize as the Tsuchikage

Toshiro who had sensed his presence suddenly began to open his eyes "No… How could you survive?" he said in a weak voice

"I Have to admit, you had me worried, but when I was in the iron shelter, I created an earth clone and hid myself within the earth, going as deep as I could go, both so you couldn't detect me, and to warm myself, if you don't believe me, look at the pieces of ice that you use to kill me, they are full of nothing but dirt, clay and rocks"

Sasuke brook a few solid ice chunks, and indeed, they were not human remains, Toshiro tried to get back to his feet, but he almost fell, using his Katana as a crutch, his strength had not returned yet "Rest, we will take care of him" Itachi said as he and Sasuke stood in front of Toshiro to protect him, they had both activated their Sharingan

"Two Uchiha's, you do realize if I beat you, you will both find yourselves in the same situation as that girl right? How powerful would we become if we unlocked both the secrets of her powers and your Sharingan" he said with a grin as he took out his weapon

"You wouldn't be able to handle the powers of the Sharingan" Sasuke said as he took out his own weapons

"We haven't fought side by side in a while little brother, this should be fun" Itachi said with a grin

But Toshiro pushed them aside, barely able to walk pass them under his own power "No, this is my fight, He has to pay for what he is making Naoto go through" Toshiro said as he tried to raise his Katana and get into a fighting stance

"Toshiro, I know that Naoto means a lot to you, but you are hurt, plus, look at it from my point of view, Naruto is like…No he is my brother, maybe not by blood, but we have a bond that cannot be broken, and it's not like I didn't try to break it, but what I am trying to say is that Naoto pretty much my niece and part of my family, so you can see that I would love a chance for my own revenge" Sasuke said with anger and hate in his eyes as he looked at the Tsuchikage

"Although I do not have the same bonds my brother shares with Naruto Sama, he is my lord and Hokage, he trusted me enough to allow me to stand by his side twenty years ago, and I owe it to him to repay that dept, his daughter will be avenged by my hands" Itachi added

"So as you can see, we have our own reasons for wanting a piece of him, let us fight him, rest, you did your part" Sasuke told Toshiro

"How touching, but it doesn't matter, I have seen his powers and they wouldn't work on me twice"

"You have seen one of my abilities" Toshiro said, his voice still weak

"Once I take these Uchiha's out, perhaps you can show them to me, before I kill you and take your blade as a trophy" he said with a grin

"You're going to have to go through us first" Sasuke said as he launched his attack

Back in the Iwa medical facility, Naoto had woken up, there were multiple tubes going into her and she noticed multiple cuts on her body that were not there before "What have you done to me" she asked as the doctor walked over to her

"Interesting, you found the strength to wake up, you have been one surprise after another I must say, I am very interested in your healing abilities, your wounds seem to heal five times faster as they should, I am sorry but its time I did some more serious test on you, I guess I could always sedate you, but I am curious to see how long it takes you to pass out, or will you be able to stay awake during the entire procedure? I wonder" he said as he put something over her mouth to muffle her screams and used his scalpel to cut off her bra so it would be out of the way "I know this is of little comfort to you, but I really do feel bad about this, normally I don't have young beautiful girls as patients, but orders are orders, and I know better than to disobey a direct order from the Tsuchikage himself" he said as he began cutting her skin with the razor sharp scalpel, Naoto was screaming in pain as she felt him cut her open, tears were streaming down her cheeks, but the doctor seemed unaffected by anything she did. The entire hospital was shaken up by some unknown force "What the hell is going on out there, go and tell who ever is causing this to knock it off, I am trying to work here!" the doctor demanded as he opened her up while she was still conscious

"As you wish administrator" a junior doctor said as he ran out of the room

"Now then, where were we?" he said as he continued his procedure, suddenly the door flew open and the junior doctor flew across the room hitting the wall behind the doctor "What the hell?" the doctor said as he stopped the procedure

Naruto stepped into the room, his hands and clothing red with blood, he started at the doctor with the scalpel in his hand, he then saw Naoto almost naked, tubes going into her body, as well as how the doctor had begun cutting her open, he then looked at her face, she was still awake, she was obviously in a lot of pain, the final straw was seeing her tears rolling down her cheeks, Naruto suddenly snapped, the aura began to boil around his body as 2 more tails came out, he jumped on the doctor, clawing at him "HOW DO YOU LIKE TO BE CUT UP HUH?" Naruto grabbed the scalpel from the ground he drove it into his body and began cutting him open "WELL? DOES THAT FEEL GOOD YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY LITTLE GIRL, YOU ARE A PIECE OF SHIT FOR DOING THIS TO HER, NOW DIE!" he said as he drove the scalpel threw his heart. Naruto got up and stood beside Naoto, she was still crying "I am going to get you out of here alright? Don't worry anymore, it's over" he said as he ran his hand in her hair trying to reassure her. He walked over to the doctor he had thrown in the room when he first entered "GET UP!" he told him as he pulled him to his feet "Did you have anything to do with this?" he told him staring right into his eyes

The Junior doctor was petrified, he stared into Naruto's blood red eyes, he knew that he could lose his life just as fast and violently as his superior "N..n..no, I swear I was just his assistant, I..II.. I was just cleaning his tools" he said fearing being killed

"Then if you want to live, heal her, if you don't then I will make sure you pay just as if you had done this to her yourself, do you understand?"

The doctor just nodded as Naruto let go of him, he quickly ran to Naoto's side and began using his healing abilities to heal the wounds that the administrator had caused, he was happy to find it easy to heal, it was as if Naoto's body was helping him, before soon he was done, he then removed all of the tubes from her body

"What were those" he asked him

"Th..t..they were just keeping her in a weaken state, to make sure she wouldn't be able to power her way out" he said fearing it would be the last thing he would say

"Have you injected her with anything that she would need an antidote for?"

The doctor just nodded as he ran for the table and got a needle and filled it with a liquid, he quickly injected Naoto with the contents "She will be alright now, I swear" he told him

Naruto quickly undid Naoto's restraints "Where are her clothing?" he asked him again

"One moment" he said running to pick up a box and handed it to Naruto "all her clothing and equipment are in here" he told him

Naruto opened the box and took out the clothing and gave them to Naoto, she was still weak, but she was able to slowly put them on "Get out of here" Naruto told the doctor

The doctor didn't need to be told twice, he ran out of the room as fast as he could

Naoto was putting on the last of her clothing when a squad of rock ninja's entered the room "He has freed her, we must stop him!"

Naruto looked at them with anger, he grabbed Naoto's Katana, which use to belong to him "I don't have the time to deal with you, so I will kill you all quickly!" he said as he raised the Katana "Hurricane force Rasengan!" he said while swinging the blade as once more it glowed a bright blue and a very large rasengan ball came out from the blade and became wrapped in a cocoon of wind, forming a hurricane in a large ball of energy, the resulting blast killed everyone in front of Naruto, as well as destroying a large chunk of the hospital

Naoto stood there amazed, how could he use her blade like that? Unless "are you truly the Hokage of the leaf?" she asked him in a weak voice, Naruto only nodded at her "And…That means that you really are my father?" Naruto nodded once more "But I don't understand, you look no older than me…And mom said you had been killed all those years ago"

"We can talk about this latter, I am more worried about getting you out of here, and safely back to your mother" he said with a warm voice, he couldn't believe that he was standing in front of his daughter, he was really a father

"Worried about getting out? You seem to have been able to get here without any problems" she said, her voice was still weak, she knew she wouldn't be able to be of much help to her father

"I used a large chunk of my chakara getting in here, another chunk went into that last attack, and staying in the fox tailed form is draining my chakara by simply standing here, I can't afford to go out of it since it's the only thing giving me the advantage over these guys" he said as he grabbed her hand and lead her out of the crumbling hospital

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**End Chapter 34**

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	35. Chapter 35

Here is chapter 35! i took last night off, so sorry :/ i felt like i could use a night off :P anyway, here is chapter 35

but first, my wonderful reviewers

Bombat1994 - Hey, yes, fanfiction tried to stop me, it TRIED MUHAHA but i beat the system, muhahaha.... yes now then uh well i took friday night off so :P and i hope you enjoy chapter 35, thanks for the review :)

naru-ca-titan - Yay, my favorite, crazy, hyperactive, add, awesome and did i mention crazy? reviewer :P you still got snow? I live in Canada and we are done with snow here, bring on the spring! yay snow melts :D i think i already said in an other review response, that because so many people want me to send him back, i decided that somehow, he was going to go back, there is just going to be a twist that will force naruto to make a tough decision, wait to find out :P thanks for the review, and enjoy 35 :D

Well, here is the much anticipated "i hope anyway :P" chapter 35!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 35  
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Sasuke and Itachi were in a fighting stance ready to begin fighting, suddenly the Kyuubi jumped in the middle ready to assist in his small form "Kyuubi, this fight is ours, we don't need your help" Sasuke said

"But lord Naruto told me to make sure you are safe, and I swore that I would protect you with my life" the Kyuubi said

"Don't worry about us, just make sure no one interferes with our fight and protect Toshiro, he is vulnerable in his weaken state, but do not help us" Itachi said

The Kyuubi was unhappy at having to stay on the side lines, but he nodded as he jumped to Toshiro's side, obviously upset to not be a part of the fight

Itachi suddenly began making hand signs and took a deep breath "Katon Hosenka" bringing his hand to his mouth and began spitting out multiple fireballs towards the Tsuchikage

The Tsuchikage began making hand signs of his own "Earth Shield!" a large chunk of earth raised up from the ground in front of him to protect him as the fireballs hit the wall, but suddenly he heard something else

"CHIDORI SWORD STRIKE!" a blade full of electrical energy pierced threw the earth shield and made its way into the Tsuchikage's arm, he took a few steps back as the shield crumbled and blood began coming from his wound

He began making new hand signs, his body dipped into the ground, Sasuke and Itachi got into a defensive position, parts of the ground began breaking up into pieces, flying towards them, Sasuke and Itachi stood back to back kicking or blocking with their Kunais the incoming projectiles, they were working as a team in perfect sync together, the ground opened up and the Tsuchikage came out, his fist were covered in rock as he threw a punch at Sasuke, Itachi grabbed Sasuke's arms and jumped forward, the attack just barely misses Sasuke's face as they fall down to the ground

But they didn't lost any time getting back up to their feet and continue their attack on the Tsuchikage

Toshiro was forced to sit down as his weaken state could no longer support him on his legs, he felt useless unable to participate in the battle, he also dammed himself for underestimating the Tsuchikage, he heard a group of people coming from behind, he turned his head, as did the Kyuubi, ready to defend themselves if the need arise, but to Toshiro's surprise, it was Sakura leading a group of resistance members, and more importantly, she seemed to be wearing her headband "TOSHIRO!" Sakura screamed as she joined him "Are you hurt?" she asked ready to give him medical aid

"No, but thanks, I just used up too much of my chakara in my fight, I should be fine once I am rested, but what are you doing here?"

"I…Felt like Naoto was in danger, so I left the village" she said sadly

"I see, I don't know specifically where Naoto is, but the Tsuchikage claims that she has been captured, Sakura, I am sorry, I broke my word to keep her safe, I… am not worthy of being your friend or her god father"

Sakura was shocked to learn about the possible capture of Naoto "You didn't fail her or me, you did everything you could, including throw away your loyalty to the night and enter into earth territory to save her"

"Still…Sakura, you should know, Naruto is back"

"Yeah, Ino told me, where is he?" she asked

"He went on ahead to save Naoto, he knows about her being his daughter, he should be in Iwa right now"

"Alone?" she said shocked

"Yeah, at first we were just chasing Naoto, trying to catch her before they could capture her, but if she was captured before he could reach her, then no doubt he went into the city to save her"

"Have you seen two other leaf ninja's? A man and a women my age" Hanabi asked

"No, sorry I haven't"

A huge explosion in front of them caught their attention as the Tsuchikage was sent flying to the ground and Sasuke was standing panting heavily "Is that the Tsuchikage?" Ino asked

Toshiro nodded to her, she tried to go to Sasuke's and Itachi's side, but the Kyuubi got in her path "I am sorry, but they have asked me to stay here and make sure that there is no interference"

"But Sasuke Sama looks hurt!" Ino said wanting to render assistance to her leader

"I am sorry, but those are their wishes" he simply said refusing to move, Ino wanted to just ignore him, but knew that the fox was taking his orders seriously, and she didn't wish to anger the nine tail fox demon in any way

"Toshiro, will you be alright here?" Sakura asked

"Yeah don't worry, I have this nine tail guardian anyway, and it's not like I am completely powerless, some of my chakara has returned…" he said trying to reassure her

"Since we can be of no assistance here, we will continue on and see if we can help Naruto, he may be in danger if he is trying to take on the entire rock village on his own, I know him, he is stubborn and emotional, he is stupid enough to do it…" Sakura said with a warm voice as she remembered Naruto's warm, stupid, yet loving smile, she gave Ino and Shikamaru a nod"

"What about Konohamaru and Yuki?" Hanabi asked worried about her team and friends

"They probably just used a different route to get to Iwa, we will find them latter" Ino said to Hanabi, not knowing if it was the truth

Sakura and her team continued on their way towards Iwa as the battle continued between the Tsuchikage and the brothers, everyone was panting as their energy was wearing down, the Tsuchikage began making hand signs, a large area around them began to liquefy into mud as all three of them were dragged down under the earth

Sasuke and Itachi fell into an underground cave as the Tsuchikage fell on his feet "Welcome to my underground heaven" he said with a grin

Sasuke and Itachi got back to their feet, they could feel the air was very thin and they had a hard time breathing properly "Fire attacks here will be useless as the oxygen level is too low" Itachi pointed out

"Well, we have plenty of moves to use that doesn't require fire" Sasuke said with a grin, they both took out a Kunai and began running in sync going from left to right, right to left trying not to make themselves an easy target

The Tsuchikage remained calmed as suddenly rocks began to pummel them from all sides, left, right, top, bottom, diagonal, every single direction, they tried to cover themselves, but the rocks were too small for them to deflect, a lot of them punctured their skin and did minor wounds, but they were too small to cause any real damage, they felt like it was just a warning, trying to tell them that in this environment, he can use everything as a weapon, they backed off trying to rethink their strategy as the Tsuchikage grinned

"Itachi, I got an idea, think you can distract him for a while?" Sasuke said to his older brother

"Of course, what is your plan little brother?" Itachi asked

"Just keep him off me, I will take care of the rest" Sasuke said as he began concentrating on something, the Tsuchikage knew that they were up to something and began his attack, not wanting to give them the chance to attack, he tried to strike at Sasuke but Itachi got in his way

The Tsuchikage began making more signs , a large rock blade appeared and he took it, it suddenly changed into a sharp iron blade as he poured chakara into it, Itachi took out his own blade and launched an immediate attack, not allowing him the chance to strike at Sasuke, they both continued to try and strike each other as they seemed to be equal in sword skills, Sasuke's eyes suddenly opened, his regular Sharingan had changed to the much stronger Mangekyo Sharingan, his hand was glowing blue with overwhelming chakara "Itachi, get out of the way!" Sasuke screamed out Itachi wasted no time in complying as he jumped out of the way, the Tsuchikage expecting an attack from Sasuke quickly began making hand signs, Sasuke screamed out "Chidori Eiso!" as he swung his arm, the energy formed a ten meter long spear of pure electrical power as it was heading straight for the Tsuchikage, but he had already finished his hand signs "Ultimate iron defense!" he said as wall, after wall, after wall of iron barriers erupted from the ground, Sasuke just grinned as he watched his attack hit the first wall and disappear, he could hear screams of agonizing pain from the other side

Sasuke fell down to one knee, the attack had taken most of his chakara as the iron walls began to crumble to the ground, they could see the Tsuchikage had been pierced by the spear multiple times as the energy spears were still glowing in his body

The Tsuchikage had fallen to his knees with blood dripping all over his body, he coughed up some blood, knowing that most of his vital organs had been pierced, he didn't have long to live "How… did your attack get through my defence.." he asked

Sasuke forced his body up and grinned "I knew you were going to use some type of shield, you are more a defensive shinobi then offensive, had you used earth as a shield, the electrical current would have simply passed through with no problem, and you probably knew that, so you decided to use iron, big mistake, iron conducts energy with almost no lost, in other words, you would have been better off using earth, although it still would have went through, it would have lost some of its power, and the blade broke into piece upon impact with your body, striking you multiple times"

"I see, you both really are as powerful as the rumours say" he said as his voice got weaker "My only comfort is knowing that you will die here with me"

"What?" Itachi asked

The Tsuchikage grinned "As soon as I die, this cave will collapse, you are meters underground, you will not be able to dig yourselves out" he said as he collapsed to the ground, blood pouring out from his wounds

The cave suddenly began to rumble as rocks and debris began falling down "We need to find a way out of here!" Sasuke said to his brother as the ceiling began caving in on them

Meanwhile Naruto and Naoto had exited the hospital, but they both stop as they find themselves surrounded by hundreds of ninja's "Surrender now and your lives will be spared" the lead ninja said

"What, and be strapped to a table like you did with my little girl and be forced to not only endure the same pain she went through, but to have her go through it again? YEAH RIGHT!" Naruto said in anger, but he was worried, he was putting up a tough front, but his chakara was running out, with Naoto in a weaken state, he would have to protect her and get them out of this situation

A group of ninja's launched an attack on Naruto, he used his speed and strength to fight them off, he was reluctant in using any jutsu's as it would drain his chakara even faster, this way, he could at least stay in Kyuubi mode longer and use the speed and power to his advantage

At first he was able to fend them off, but there were too many, he was beginning to get tired, and although he wasn't using any jutsu's, his chakara was still draining by simply being in Kyuubi mode, that's when he heard a scream, he turned around and saw that a few of them had been able to grab Naoto, she was trying to fight them but she was still too weak, Naruto's blood began to boil as he saw them lay their hands on his little girl, he ran towards them without caring about his own well being, he felt multiple kunais hit him in the back, but he ignored them as he grabbed a single kunai, he dug it into his arm forcing a wound to open and blood to pour out, he swung his arm in the air with speed, knowing that it would heal in a few seconds, he concentrated his chakara into the blood, the chakara solidifies and forms one large ball of blood and chakara that he is able to control, he made them head for the men holding Naoto, they pierce through their bodies at extreme speed multiple times, causing multiple holes and wounds, the men die a very painful death as Naruto begin making them attack other ninja's before they ran out of chakara and the blood reliquaries and falls to the ground

Naruto is panting heavily and sweat was dripping from his forehead, three of his tails suddenly disappears due to his low chakara, he was unable to sustain them, and he had only killed a few rock ninja's, he ran to Naoto's side wanting to be able to protect her, he wanted to just grab her and flee, but there was nowhere to run as the enemy surrounded them

Naoto was petrified, she didn't want to be captured again, and she also didn't want to lose her father, she had just met him for the first time in her life, she couldn't lose him so soon, she had so many questions for him, she didn't want for her life to end before she could get to know the man that had brought her into this world, the one that her mother spoke so highly of, the man respected by everyone in the resistance "I am sorry Naoto…" Naruto simply said knowing he didn't have the power, chakara or energy needed to get them out of here

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**End Chapter 35**

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Seems both Naruto and Sasuke are in a tough position, will they survive?


	36. Chapter 36

Well i did it again, i took Sunday off :P but i couldn't stay away, its like my imagination is just running wild and is demanding i write my story :P so well chapter 36 has arrived!

Now then, for my reviews!

naru-ca-titan - Thanks for your review, as always, it brought a smile to my face :) i hope you enjoy this story, keep being awesomely crazy :D

RSfan - i agree with you, i am not good with Itachi, i don't know why, i actually love Itachi as a char, both in the series and how he turned out in my story, but i guess i never really learned how to use his true potential in a fight, so i apologize with that, i also suck as fight scenes :( but thanks for your review, and i hope you enjoy chapter 36

Gravenimage - Great, i am happy to have grabbed your attention and gained a new reader :D i hope you enjoy this new chapter, and don't worry about updates, i a writing machine, i broke fanfiction last weekend :P wouldn't let me update lol

Bombat1994 - Yeah and i took Sunday off too :P but it was very painful for me not to write!! so here i am lol, and read this chapter, the much anticipated reunion of a certain couple is finally at hand, thanks for the review :D

Nekomimi 444 - Thanks for the review :) Ichigo isn't exactly evil, he is just an invader :P But from Naruto's point of view, yes he is evil :) but to his people, he is probably a hero, but thanks for enjoying my little story, hope you enjoy this new chapter

naturokurosaki - Thanks for the review, but there are some things i need to point out, when Naruto is in fox form in the story, he uses the power from the Kyuubi that is trapped within him, he also has access to the almost limitless chakara from the Kyuubi, as well as his very large chakara that he owns himself, in my story, the Kyuubi mode is his power now, it draws its energy from HIS chakara source, not the foxes, also the foxes is no longer within him, meaning he no longer has that massive almost bottomless chakara reserve, he only has his own, in my story, the more tails he uses, the more powerful he becomes, but the draw back to this is that is, the more tails he has, the faster it eats up his chakara, finally, in my story, he never reaches sage mode, my story is only cannon until after he returns from his second failled attempt to rescue sasuke in shippuden "the first time being in the original series before the fillers of doom...:P" Naruto is also not weak, he killed multiple strong ANBU ninja's from the rock, and is taking on hundreds of them, but he isn't invincible :/ i hope that has cleared some things up :) this wasn't meant as trying to shoot you down or anything, i just felt that perhaps you didn't understand that my Naruto was not the same as the cannon Naruto anymore, with the fox no longer being in him :), please i hope you keep reading and reviewing

xzavx - x5 - Wow, i was worried i had lost you for a while, i had not seen you review in long time :D i am happy to see you come back and reviewing once more! thanks a lot for the multiple reviews and keep them coming :) i hope you enjoy this new chapter

Sintar07 - Wow thanks, honestly, i suck at fighting, its my weak point, but i do agree that my fights now are much better then when i first started the story, i am great at telling a story, but fight scenes, not so great :( but thanks for the review, and i hope you enjoy this new chapter

Well that's everyone! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, because the much anticipated reunion has finally arrived, i give you chapter 36!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 36  
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Toshiro could feel the earth under him shake slightly, the Kyuubi's ears suddenly went straight up as he disappeared in a poof of smoke leaving Toshiro to wonder what was going on

Sasuke and Itachi were running out of time as the underground cave was falling in on them little by little, and there was nothing they could do about it "Sorry little brother" Itachi simply said

"What are you apologizing for?" Sasuke asked him

"I never did properly apologize for all those years of pain you had to endure, I thought that by pushing you to hate me and want to defeat me that you would train and become a strong shinobi, but I know now that it was a mistake, so I apologize for asking the third to hide the truth from you" Itachi said to his younger brother

"Forget about it, I forgave you a long time ago" Sasuke said with a genuine smile towards his brother "I just hope that the resistance will survive without us" Sasuke said worried

"Hokage Sama has returned, they will be fine with him in charge" Itachi said with respect for Naruto

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Naruto will do everything to protect them" Sasuke said thinking about his best friend and brother

"Will you two stop talking like you're going to die and just grab a hold of one of my tails?" The Kyuubi said, Itachi and Sasuke were surprised to see him, but didn't need to think twice about doing what he asked them, they both grabbed one of the nine tails and held on as suddenly they could see the light of day

Toshiro jumped surprised by their sudden appearance "Where did you three come from?" He asked as he calmed down once he recognize that they weren't a threat

"The Tsuchikage decided to bring us underground for the final battle" Itachi simply said

"He brought us down in a cave, that from what we guess was created with his chakara, once he was killed, there was no longer anything holding the cave together, a few more seconds, and we would have been crushed, thanks Kyuubi" Sasuke said as he let go of the tail

"There is no need to thank me, Lord Naruto demanded that I protect you, and I swore on my life that I would keep you safe, I wasn't about to allow you to die" he simply said

"You really respect him don't you" Sasuke said "However I can't really understand why, you are the demon lord nine tail fox demon"

"I owe him my life, he had a choice to spare me or allow me to fade away"

"But it's more than that isn't it, you could easily serve him and hate him, god knows that's what Manda use to do before he died, yet you hold him in high regards"

"Manda was a pitiful excuse for a demon creature; he thought only of himself and was arrogant" Kyuubi said, obviously not happy to be compared with the snake lord Manda

"forty years ago when you attacked Konoha, were you that different from him? Sure you had no master and you did as you pleased, but deep down, you were just as bad"

The Kyuubi was getting annoyed with the continued comparison of himself to Manda "That was a long time ago, much has changed, I spent almost twenty years seeing the world through Naruto's eyes, I saw the cruelty of the world towards him when he was only a child, cruelty that he received only because of me, he was a hero, yet they treated him as a monster, yet no matter what they did to him, he would always smile and be happy, although it was only a front to hide his true pain and loneliness, but he never gave up on life, he kept on going until he earned the respect of Iruka, then you and Sakura along with Kakashi, he fought for the very people who use to persecute him and hate him, he eventually earned their respect, and he had done it all with me trapped inside of him, and with his smile, he also has an ability that no one else has, the ability to make friends with everyone, including his enemies, I guess you could say, it worked on me as well" the Kyuubi said while staring into the distance "You should understand since he did the same with you" he said with a grin

Sasuke smiled at the comment as he remembered all those years ago about the bond that he formed with Naruto, and how he desperately tried to cut them while on the path to darkness, but Naruto refused to let him go, and its thanks to him that he was able to return "Yeah, he does have that annoying ability to be loved by everyone whose lives that he touches" he said with a kind smile, he suddenly fell down on his knees before passing out

Toshiro was concerned "Is he alright?" He asked as he checked Sasuke for a pulse

"Don't worry, he is simply tired, he used up most of his chakara in the battle against the Tsuchikage, its nothing a little bit of rest won't fix" he said as he sat down next to his brother, obviously drained and tired himself

Sweat was dripping from Naruto's face, the red aura was still glowing around his body, and a single tail still remained, but he was getting weaker "I can't win this battle, there is simply too many of them, but I can't let them get their hands on Naoto again, I would do anything to save her….Anything" he thought to himself, suddenly the red aura vanished, his eyes had returned to their sky blue color, and his body returned to normal "Listen up, I have a proposition for you all" he told them

One of the lead ninja's stepped forward, obviously intrigued and curious "What would that be" he said

"It is obvious that I cannot win this, I am not a fool, I can see that your greater numbers would eventually overwhelm me, however I would still kill a great deal of you before you could finally take me down"

"I have to admit that is true, but what are you trying to get at?" he asked him

"You simply want to unlock the secret of our powers correct?" Naruto told them

They simply nodded

"Then, take me and let her leave safely, if it's my powers you wish to learn about, then there can be no one better then myself, I am the original, you may do with me as you wish, test me, open me up, kill me and chop me to pieces to find the secrets to my technique, but allow my little girl to leave..."

Naoto couldn't believe what she had just heard "NO! You can't…" but Naruto put his hand on her mouth

"Do we have a deal?" Naruto asked them

"We are not monsters, I have a daughter myself, I can respect what you want to do, you have proven that indeed you have the same powers as her, and also that you have a greater control of them as well, you may prove to be more valuable than the girl, and we would rather have your cooperation then fight you, we agree to your terms, the girl is free to leave" he said as he motioned for his men to clear a path for Naoto, but kept their eyes on Naruto in case he was trying to pull a trick on them

"Naoto, get out of here now while you have the chance" Naruto told his daughter

"No, I won't leave you behind" Naoto said with tears rolling down her cheeks

"Naoto… I am very proud of you, you have grown up into such a beautiful, young and strong ninja, but you have your entire life ahead of you, I should have died twenty years ago, your mother will be devastated if she loses you too, now get out of here"

Naoto was shaking her head, she didn't want to obey, tears were now streaming down from her sky blue eyes as the pain of losing her father ripped her heart to shreds "How can you expect me to just walk away from you! My entire life, mom told me stories about you, told me how you were a great man, how she loved, no, how she still loves you, and how much she misses you, I grew up thinking you were the best and greatest dad ever, and now that I found you, you want me to just give you up?" she said now crying

Naruto held her tightly, he had tears rolling down his cheeks as well, what he was about to do was going to hurt him greatly. Swiftly and quickly, he hit Naoto on the back of the head knocking her out as she collapsed in his arms, he held her tightly as his fingers ran through her hair, he kissed her forehead "Naoto, my little baby girl, daddy loves you, but I can't be with you, not if it means your death" he said as he picked her up in his arms and looked at the lead rock ninja, he was fighting tears of his own after seeing what he had just witness "Look, I know I am asking a lot, but not far from here are two leaf ninja's and a white haired man, please just give her to them, they will bring her back home safely" he asked him as he slipped a scroll into Naoto's vest

"Very well, you have my word that I will deliver her directly to them myself, but what if they refuse to go back?" he asked him

"Tell the one named Sasuke that I chose to stay behind to save my daughter, that he is not to attempt to save me, also tell the white haired man to continue protecting my daughter since I won't be able to"

"Well I don't think that they will believe me, but I will try" he said as four ninja's surrounded Naruto slapping cuffs on his wrist, he took one last look at his daughter before he allowed the Ninja's to take him

"NOT SO FAST!" a voice came from the top of the hospital

Naruto was stunned, was he really seeing who he thought he was seeing?

"Get your hands off my family!" The lone pink haired leaf ninja demanded as she jumped down from the top of the building with her fist crashing into the ground, creating a huge crater injuring over ten ninja's instantly with her super human strength, everyone backed away from the new comer as she ran towards Naruto

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes, it was really her, the only girl that his heart belonged to, Sakura, but what was she doing here? "Sakura chan?!" he simply asked as Sakura grabbed him wrapping her arms around him and pulled him in for a kiss, how she had longed to feel his lips on hers again, she then pushed him and slapped him as hard as she could leaving a large red mark on his face "SAKURA?!" he asked confused as she threw him to the ground

"HOW DARE YOU!" She said obviously angry with him over something "HOW CAN YOU EVEN THINK OF LEAVING ME AGAIN AFTER RETURNING!" she said with tears rolling down her cheeks as she had a mix of emotions

"Sakura chan…" Naruto simply said

Sakura turned to the man who held Naoto "You, put her down right now, you people are not taking my family away from me! Yes, I heard the deal he made with you, and I don't care, you are not having either one of them!" she screamed at him

"Sakura Chan! You can't win against all of them; I am sorry but take Naoto and go while you still can!"

Sakura turned back towards him and punched him sending him on his back "YOU SHUT UP, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY SAY IN THIS!" she shouted at him "**YEAH, WE WILL DEAL WITH YOU LATTER!! As for you, LET GO OF OUR DAUGHTER BEFORE I DETACHED YOUR ARMS FROM YOUR BODY!**" Inner Sakura screamed out

Blood had begun dripping from Naruto's nose from the impact of her fist

"Look lady, I don't want to hurt you or your family, but I have my orders, the Tsuchikage wants to know the secret of their powers, and there is no way you can defeat us all, so take your daughter and you may leave safely"

"No deal, this is my family, would you abandon your wife in a similar situation?"

"No, I can't say that I would, although, I might consider it if I knew there was no way to win and my child's life was in question, and she told me to leave"

"What if you had a plan to get them all out safely?" Sakura asked with a grin

"What?" the man asked her confused

Suddenly multiple explosions went off throughout the city, a large part of the ninja's began running towards their homes and families, wanting to make sure they were alright as no one knew what had just happened, however a large number of ninja's remained

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" The man holding Naoto shouted out

A blonde haired Ninja's suddenly jumped in kicking the man in the back making him throw Naoto into the air, Sakura jumped and caught her while a dark haired Ninja jumped down to Naruto's side, she quickly broke his hand cuffs "Hanabi?" Naruto said surprised to see her

Ino stood by Sakura's side as multiple kunais began to rain down on the ninja's causing them to run for cover

Shikamaru jumped down to Naruto's side "NOW!" everyone nodded, except for Naruto who had no idea what was going on, they all began making their way towards the exit of the city, Naruto fallowed them since he was left with no other choice

The confusion created by the surprise attack was enough to ensure that they exit the city safely

Once the ninja's had regrouped they were about to begin their pursuit but the lead ninja, who was also an ANBU captain told them to stop, confused by the order, some of them went to him "But Captain, we have a chance to catch up to them, we know these lands better than they do, we have the advantage"

"Was anyone hurt in the attack? Including our families in the explosions?" he simply asked them

"No sir, the building targeted were unoccupied, and most of our men escaped with bruises or scratched sir"

"Let them go" he said as he began walking away from the gate"

"But sir! The Tsuchikage…"

"I will deal with him" he said as he continued to walk away, he began thinking about his own family, his wife and children, and about how he loved them "Everyone, go home to your families, tell them how much you love them, and spend time with them, because you never know when you might never see them again" he said simply as he disappeared in a poof of smoke

Everyone were in shock, the strongest, and most feared of the ANBU had just allowed prisoners to escape, but there respect for him grew as they began walking home towards their own families

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**End Chapter 36**

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Well Naruto and Sakura are finally back together, she almost lost him again so soon after finding him, luckaly, she is pig headed and refused to lose him once more, i hope you all liked it, so read, rave, review :D


	37. Chapter 37

Well here is 37, hope you all enjoy it :)

now then, wow, i had a lot of reviews for 36, i was so happy to read them all, and now its my turn to respond to them all :D

Gravenimage - lol yes, classic Sakura, showing her love by beating him up :P well i hope i didn't make you wait to long :) thanks for the review and i hope you enjoy 37 and i also hope you keep reviewing :D

chickenman00712 - thanks for the review, the wait is over, chapter 37 is here :D

Bombat1994 - it wasn't exactly the REAL reunion, yes, it was the first time they finally see each other since the time skip, and yes, she kissed him in the heat of the moment, but the true reunion and the consequences are in chapter 37 :) hope you enjoy, and thanks for the review :)

crsstlk - thank you, your continued support as always makes me happy :) i hope you enjoy 37 :D and thanks again for the review

xzavx - x9 - that's great, i am just happy that i didn't lose a fan :) its great to have you back, and i hope that you are enjoying the story once more :D Thanks for the reviews as allways

naru-ca-titan - Sakura is not the type to do things quietly :P and this way was more fun, as for the kissing part, as i explained, to bombat, yes she did kiss him, but it was more of an impulse then anything, think about it, you have Sakura who has probably been dreaming of this moment for the past twenty years, and finally, Naruto is right in front of her, she is pumped full of adrenaline as well, plus it made the slapp funnier :P hope you enjoy 37, and as always thanks for the review :D

lilal6 - This chapter has somethings about going back to the past :) hope you like the chapter and thanks for the review :D

RSfan - Really? would you mind telling me why? I am just curious, maybe i can fix it so i don't do it again in the future, until then, i hope you enjoy 37, and thanks for the review :)

Chi-Neko - Thanks a lot for the review, i hope you continue to enjoy this story as it progresses, please enjoy 37 :D

hersheyisathaynes - Thank you very much for the compliments, i plan to keep on writing until you all get tired of me and shoot me....err i mean until the story is over :P (yes, i do have an ending planned at some point...:P)

Well that's everyone, i would like to thank you all for the continued support, both from my long time reviewers and me new ones, now then, here is chapter 37!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 37  
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Sakura was leading the group until they had reached Itachi Sasuke Toshiro and the Kyuubi "Hokage Sama, your safe, and I see that Naoto is also safe" Itachi said as he got back to his feet

"Yeah, thanks to Sakura Chan and her team" Naruto responded as Sasuke and Toshiro got up

"It's time we got out of here while we still can" Toshiro said ready to leave

"WAIT, we can't leave yet" Hanabi shouted out "We still haven't found Konohamaru and Yuki" she said concerned

"Konohamaru and Yuki are missing?" Naruto said also showing concern for his team

"Yeah, they fallowed your team in and sent me to get reinforcements, but none of you have seen them, I am worried"

"They could be anywhere, it is too risky to stay here, and most of us are still recovering from our fights" Toshiro said wanting to leave now

"I don't know how the night country does things, but Leaf ninja's never leave our own behind" Sasuke said, even though he knew Toshiro was right about most of them being in a weaken state, but Konohamaru and Yuki were his responsibility, and he wasn't going to abandon them

"I am not saying abandon them, we just need to regroup and rest, I will even offer my help" Toshiro said

But before Sasuke could respond, they felt the presence of two others as Kunais went flying pass them, missing Sasuke by mere inches, two masked rock ANBU appeared on the battlefield, one of them Naruto recognize as the ANBU captain that had just attempted his capture "We have finally caught up with you" the masked man said

"So, you're still trying to bring me back?" Naruto asked as he got into a defensive position

"You believe just because you have us outnumbered that we are at a disadvantage? Don't make me laugh" The ANBU Captain said

The other one, who they could see was a blond girl due to her hair, began making hand signs as earth began swirling around her "You will come with us, dead or alive, it's up to you really" the girl added

They stood awaiting for Naruto to respond "I am giving you two ten seconds to get out of here before I make you pay for what you did to Naoto and Naruto" Sakura said stepping in front of group, there was fire in her eyes as she stared at the masked ninja's, she clenched her fists as they began to radiate chakara "1, 2, 3"

The masked man began taking a few steps back, Naruto could have sworn he had heard him say "She is as scary as ever" in a very low tone of voice, he smiled

"Sakura Chan, stand down" Naruto simply said

Sakura turned to face him, obviously surprised by his request and outraged at the same time "You are hurt and in a weaken state, do you think that I cannot handle them without your help?" she asked him

"No, I am just afraid that you will hurt them so badly that they won't be able to reveal their identity in time to save their lives…" Sakura and everyone else for that matter looked at him puzzled, except for Hanabi that had caught on "Isn't that right team?"

"He figured it out?" The girl said

"That's Naruto Nii-San for you…" he said as both of them removed their rock ANBU mask to reveal Konohamaru and Yuki, Hanabi was overjoyed at finding out that her team mates were safe "But Nii-San, how did you know?" he asked him

"Simple, although Yuki stood her ground, you were smart enough to fear Sakura, meaning that you knew of her power, since she has not been a shinobi in years, I had to assume that you knew her by other means, considering we had two missing people, one of which knew about Sakura's power, due to having experienced it first hand, I figured it had to be you, or that the rock ANBU captains were weaker then I thought" Naruto said with a grin

"When did you get smart?" Sasuke asked him giving him a friendly push

"Just one question, how did you get those outfits? I assume a rock ANBU captain doesn't just leave his mask laying around"

"We took it off him and the girl escorting him" Konohamaru said with pride "There is a very unhappy tied up man and women somewhere in the forest" he said with a grin

"Good work, you have grown strong Konohamaru" Naruto said with a smile

"It was nothing, my master plan worked without a hitch" He said scratching the back of his head, Yuki on the other hand slapped the back of his head "Yuki chan! What was that for?"

"What a master plan it was indeed, you want to know what his grand and wonderful master plan was? He used the sexy no jutsu and lured the pig in a secluded area where I knocked him out..."

"Hey, it worked didn't it?!" Konohamaru said trying to defend himself

"You are such a pervert!" Yuki said to Konohamaru

"Yeah well, you're married to me, so you're stuck with me" he said with a grin

"You're lucky that you're cute, or else, I would have left you a long time ago" she said as she held onto him

Naruto looked at them with a smile, he didn't notice that Sakura was staring at him, her mind was going one hundred miles a second "It really is him, he is back, and he doesn't look a day older then I remember him, he hasn't aged, look at me…I am now twice his age, how could he ever love me now?" she thought to herself "But I still love him…" she thought sadly

"Well now that we have everyone, might I suggest we get out of here?" Toshiro asked the group, everyone nodded as they continued their path back towards the night borders

During the entire time, Naruto's mind was also thinking about Sakura "Even after twenty years, she is still as beautiful as I remember her, even her personality hasn't changed one bit, she is still the same girl that I fell in love with since the day I saw her" he thought to himself "Her lips are just as warm and soft as they were when I first kissed her…" his mind continued to revolve around Sakura as they continued to make their way out of the earth Nations borders

Several hours later, they finally reached the safe haven of the resistance village, Naoto was still passed out, as her body was still weak and tired as they entered the resistance paradise, Sakura was amazed at what they had accomplished, Even Toshiro was surprised, he had no idea that this was hiding behind the stones, he had always just pictured small huts "How did you build all this?" He asked Sasuke

"We got tired of sleeping on the ground in tents, it was hard, but we all worked together, clearing the rock was the hardest, but it did give us a lot of building material for the houses, hospital and academy" he said with pride "So, what are you two going to do now? Return to the night country with Naoto?" he asked them

"I can't go back…" Sakura said sadly "Not after what I did" she added

"As for me, I betrayed my country and leader, how can I return knowing that" Toshiro said in a sad tone of voice

"Do you regret it?" Naruto asked him

Toshiro looked at Naoto and smiled warmly "No, I would do it over and over again… to save her"

"We should get her to the hospital and get her checked out" Ino said as she began leading them to their small hospital, Sakura was about to fallow them but Ino stopped her "Sakura, we can take care of Naoto, and I believe there is something more important you need to deal with right now" she told Sakura. As ever, even after almost twenty years of not talking to each other, Ino still knew Sakura better than anyone

"I will go with her" Toshiro said to reassure Sakura that Naoto would be in good and safe hands. Everyone else just left, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone

"Let's talk in my house" Naruto said as he led her to his small house "sorry if it kind of feels empty, I have only been here for a day…" he said as he sat down, his legs tired from all the running they had done

Sakura just sat down across from him, there was an awkward and even eerie silence that worried Naruto as he stared at Sakura, and she looked like she was lost in her thoughts as she just stared at a single point on the table

"Naruto…" She finally said, her eyes not moving from whatever she was staring at on the table "I am glad that you are back, well more than glad, I am very happy, you cannot imagine how much I dreamed that something like this would happen…"

"Why do I have a feeling that there is a but coming" he said worried

"But… As much as I love you, as much as I want to be with you, as much as I want to be happy again, I can't allow it…" she said trying not to break out in tears

"What?! WHY?" Naruto said surprised and wanting answers

"Naruto… I know to you that it's only been like twenty four hours since the war, but it's been twenty years for me, god, I am twice your age now! How could that ever work!" she said finally losing the battle of keeping her tears in "You have your entire life ahead of you, my life is already half way over, it's only fair that you get to live your life to the fullest, find someone who will love you, and make you happy" she told him as the tears were streaming down her cheeks

"Sakura chan…"

"Look at me Naruto! I am old! And ugly, my prime is almost over, my glory days are behind me, I am old enough to be your mother!! But you, you haven't even reached your prime yet!"

Naruto banged his fist on the table, tired of being cut off "Sakura! Do you think I give a damn about all that? Look at you! You are still as beautiful as the day I remember you, your skin is still as soft and as silky, your hair still smooth and perfect, your beautiful eyes, are still the same ones that I fell in love with, Sakura, I don't care that you are twice my age, I still love you! You refused to fall in love with anyone else while you thought I was dead, do you think I can do any better? You are the one who owns my heart, there can be no one else, without you, my life is incomplete, so stop this nonsense, Sakura I love YOU" he said to her as he stared passionately into her eyes

Her heart was breaking "I am sorry Naruto, but I can't" she said as she ran out of the house, leaving Naruto alone, his own heart breaking, this wasn't the reunion he was expecting, although he had to be honest with himself, he had no idea what to expect, but he did know that he still loved her

Meanwhile in the small hospital, Shizune was reading a book, she was still in charge of the hospital since she was the most experienced doctor in the resistance to still be alive Ino walked in fallowed by Toshiro who was carrying Naoto, Shizune surprised to see one of the night country captains just walk into her hospital got up "What's going on?" she asked

"She has had experiments conducted on her, we need to do a full check up to make sure nothing is wrong with her" Ino said as she got a bed ready, she was also a doctor at the hospital

"And him?" Shizune asked

"He is alright, we can trust him, I will explain latter, right now we need to take care of Naoto" Ino responded

"Naoto? You mean this is Sakura's and Naruto's daughter?" Shizune said as she rushed to the bed

"Yeah, she had been captured by the rock, we were able to rescue her, but not before they did stuff to her" Ino said trying not to think of the pain and horrors the young girl was forced to bare

Ino and Shizune began their check up as Toshiro sat down to rest, he knew that Naoto was safe, his eye lids were heavy and he had a hard time to keep them open, he finally gave in to his fatigue and fell a sleep

Naruto had finally left his house and looked around for Sakura, he had to find her, but instead he found Shikamaru sitting on a rock outside of his house "So, I guess that it didn't go well?" he asked him

"That's putting it mildly… She seems to be concerned that because she is older than I am now, that she isn't good enough for me, that I should find someone else to love, trouble is, I can't!"

"Girls are like that, they would like for us all to think that they are smarter than men and more rational, but truthfully, they are just one huge ball of emotions ready to explode at any given time, right now, she must have had these emotions bottled up inside of her for a very long time, seeing you caused them to pour out all at once"

"I know… And yet, there is also a part of me that understands what she is trying to say, I have a daughter that is just one year younger then I am, and Sakura is twice my age now, when you think about it, it feels weird, but I don't care, my feelings for her are still the same, and I know she still loves me…"

"Don't you wish that you could somehow just go back in time and make everything right?"

"Yeah…But it's not like that's possible"

"It is, think about it, the one who sent you into the future, may have the power to send you back in time, although, he might not be willing to do it without being forced a bit" he said with a grin

"Shikamaru…You're a genius!!" Naruto shouted at his friend

"However, you must realize, if you somehow do go back into the past, none of this will ever exist, the resistance will cease to exist, this small community will have never existed, the children that were born here will never exist, more than likely some of the couples that have fallen in love and married might also never happen, you would be changing our entire future"

"I am sure that most of you guys will fall in love, I mean I remember seeing signs of it back then, even Konohamaru and Yuki"

"Those are possibilities, but nothing is certain, also none of these kids will be born, even if Konohamaru and Yuki were to fall for each other, the children they have now, will not be the same as they will have then"

"I don't understand, if there the same people…"

"Same people yes, but the time they are conceived will more than likely be different… Look it's all about biology and I know you won't understand it, so I won't bother, the only child that will be the same is Naoto"

"Why Naoto?" he asked

"She was conceived before you were thrown into the future, all these kids were conceived after, of course, her life will be different, but Naoto will still be Naoto"

"So if I somehow go back, I will be erasing everything that you have all accomplished" Naruto said sadly

"ultimately, it's your choice, I mean the only way I would have of stopping you would be to have you imprisoned or kill you, but considering I am the one who gave you the idea in the first place, I trust that you will make the decision that will be the best for everyone" Shikamaru told him as he began to walk away leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts

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**End Chapter 37**

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Well, Sakura and Naruto's talk didn't end well, as well as Naruto has a big decision ahead of him


	38. Chapter 38

Yay chapter 38 is here :D

Also, YAY For my reviewers, i love you all :D

Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, and i love cliff hangers, its what keeps you coming muhahaha :P lol jk, but i hope you like 38 :D

Gravenimage - She was 19 before the time skip, so she is 39 going on 40 now, Naruto is still 19, thanks for review :)

chickenman00712 - Its tough for both of them, Sakura is old enough to be his mother, its enough make things weird between them weird, thanks for the review, hope you enjoy 38 :)

Sintar07 - Thank you very much, that typo got by me, even though i try my best to catch them :P it has now been fixed, so thanks again for spotting, and yes, i like to surprise people, they think they know what i am planing, and i come out with something totally different :P Thanks a lot for the review hope you enjoy this newest chapter

ellezi - don't know how long it will take for you to read this since i noticed you reviewed chapter 2 :P Anyway thanks for your review, i do try my best to keep the grammar good, but you have to admit that compared to most stories out there, the grammar in my story is pretty good :P sometimes i cringe at some of the stuff i read out there, and i know i am not perfect myself, far from it, i often make mistakes, but i try to re read and fix as many of them as i can, but you must understand that when i type these stories, its normally late at night, after i got home from a long day's work, so i am tired, i hope that you continue to enjoy the story, also, i will try my best to keep my grammar from slipping :)

naru-ca-titan - So sorry for not answering that question, i always meant too, but it slipped my mind, yes, his outfit is the same as in shippuden, except that he now wear the Namikaze coat that is like his fathers, except orange and black rather then white and red, also he wears the black and orange Hokage hat that Kakashi gave him, i didn't want to change his look because in all honesty, he looks bad ass already :P i felt no need to change his clothing or appearance. i just created a DA account because i couldn't find you, so i put you on my friends list, and now i finally found your account :P there was only one picture in there, and i have to say, its nice, much better then whatever i could make, i can draw stick figures :D that's the extent of my art skills :P but i can make an ubber story!! :D anyway hope you like this chapter, thanks for the review :)

lilal6 - Thanks, hope you like the new chapter :D

WeeTard - Thanks for the review, i don't know how many chapters are left, but i have already begun thinking about a sequel to this story, i even though of calling it "creating new bonds" :) anyway, there are still lots of chapters left in this one, so i hope you enjoy :D

Well that's everyone, hope you all enjoy this chapter, i will say this in advance, not much action here, its a setup chapter for what is to come

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 38  
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Naruto was sitting on the top of the rocks where Sasuke was laying down only the night before, he was looking at the stars in the sky, it had been 48 hours since his life had been turned upside down, He was thinking about how much had happened in the short amount of time he appeared in this time, His village had been destroyed and the fire nation all but gone, many of his friends were killed defending it, Sasuke had taken the survivors and founded this new resistance village that had flourished under his care and protection, he was now a father at the age of nineteen, to an eighteen year old daughter, and the love of his life was now twice his age, old enough to actually be his mother, he still loved her greatly, but he knew what she said made sense, then there was what Shikamaru told him, could he really go back in time and fix everything and regain his life? Did he have the right to change the future just because he wants his life back; was he being selfish even thinking about it?

"Hey Idiot, looks like you have a lot on your mind" Sasuke said as he approached Naruto and sat next to him "I heard that your talk with Sakura didn't go to well, I am sorry man"

"Yeah…" He simply said

"So what now?"

"What do you mean what now?"

"Well, what are your plans now? Are you going to join the resistance? We never did get a chance to talk about it"

"I don't know yet… I have been thinking, tell me, had I not been thrown into the vortex and won the battle, do you think things would have been better?"

"What? Why are you asking me that…"

"Just answer the question"

"Well, Konoha would still be here, many of the dead would have survived, but would things be better? I don't know, I mean we are doing pretty well for ourselves here, sure we are no longer a great shinobi nation, but we are together and strong, the families here are happy, but tell me why are you asking me this?"

"Shikamaru told me something, What if the Kurokage also had the power to send me back through time, and make everything the way it should be…"

"You mean the way you want it to be?" Sasuke said

Naruto looked at him surprised "What?"

"What I am trying to say is, who knows, maybe this was supposed to happen Naruto, yes I understand that your life has been almost ruined in the process, but we have twenty years of history, what you are saying is that in order to make you happy again, we should just give it all up?"

"Technically, you wouldn't be giving up anything, it would have never happened" Naruto responded

"What about Rika and Yukito, are you saying that going back is worth ending their existence? And the existence of every other child that was born in this community? Or are you just thinking that they wouldn't exist anyway so they don't matter"

"No…No that is not what I am trying to say" Naruto said feeling his heart breaking; he wanted his life back, but was the price really worth it?

"Things aren't so bad Naruto, alright, yes, you may have lost Sakura, and yes your daughter is your age, but think about it, you will be able to grow up with her, protect her for the rest of her life, how many fathers have the chance to do that with their girl?" Sasuke said trying to cheer him up "You might also be able to see your great grand kids and still be young enough to enjoy them"

Naruto didn't respond, he still wished he had his life back the way it was suppose to be, but how could he justify making this future simply vanish

"That is very true Sasuke, but who is to say that this is really suppose to happen? What If Naruto wasn't meant to be thrown into that vortex? Can you say that Kakashi and the rest who died on that night were also meant to die? What about them?" A voice came from behind them

"Shikamaru, I should have known it was you, why are you giving him these stupid ideas?" Sasuke asked him as Shikamaru joined them

"Why not? What right did the Kurokage have to use his powers and throw Naruto into the future?"

"Why would you want things to change Shikamaru? Aren't you happy with Ino and your children? Are you saying that you don't care about them?" Sasuke asked him

"Don't be an idiot, of course I love my family, and of course I realize that if he was to go back through time, my children would vanish, and hell, I may not even end up with Ino, who knows? My point is, whatever happens, happens for a reason, maybe I don't want my kids growing up in this environment, yes, they are safe, yes, there needs are looked after, but I want more for them, I want more for them then this!" He told Sasuke

Naruto felt like he was caught up in the middle

"How about we ask the rest of the village huh?" Shikamaru shouted

"There is no need to bring this up, we have enough things to worry about, we should be concentrating on gathering food"

"You mean STEALING food? This is what I am talking about, we are no better than bandits! I don't want my kids to grow up like this!"

"I know, but we can't grow anything inside because there isn't enough sun, and outside would just give away our position, so we have no choice"

"We have a choice! Send him back to the time where HE BELONGS, you are afraid of bringing this to the village because you know they may agree with me! Isn't that right?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Then let's just do it then, if they agree with you, then fine, but if they agree with me, then you will have no choice but to admit that this is the right course of action to take"

"Fine!"

"Did they just decide my fate without asking me?..." Naruto wondered

Meanwhile Sakura had entered the small hospital, Naoto was sleeping peacefully with Toshiro sleeping in a chair, watching over her, she smiled seeing the both of them sleeping peacefully, Shizune approached her "Sakura" she said in a low tone not to wake them

"Shizune" Sakura answered in an equally low tone, the two were happy to see each other once again after such a long time

"I am so happy to see you and Naoto, I have always wondered how you were doing and hoped you two were alright"

"Thanks to Toshiro, we were able to live out a peaceful and happy life, although I fear that has come to an end"

"Things aren't as bad as you may think here, you can still have a peaceful life here" Shizune said with a smile "I have to say, she is very beautiful, she looks a lot like her father to" Shizune said as she stared at the sleeping Naoto "I can still remember when I told you that you were pregnant with her, hard to believe that she is now eighteen"

"Yeah, she grew up fast, too fast" Sakura said "But tell me, is she alright?"

"We found some substance in her system, none of them were a threat to her life, but we removed them anyway, we also made sure all the wounds were properly closing, but her body seemed to have done a good job at healing itself, I assume she has Naruto's abilities of fast regeneration"

"Yeah… She inherited a lot from him, she has his personality as well, but she seems to have my smarts" Sakura said with a smile

Naoto suddenly began to move her head and open her eyes gently, and in a low, weak voice "Mom?"

Sakura walked over to her side "Yes sweetie?"

"Where are we?" she asked

"You are in a safe place, you don't need to worry about anyone hurting you anymore" she said with a smile

"I don't care about me, what about…Father" she asked Sakura "Did he really give himself to save my life?"

"He was going to, but we stopped him, you can talk to him once your rested hunny, now go back to sleep, you are still weak"

"That's good, because, there is much I want to talk to him about mom, and maybe now we can be a real family" she said as her eyes began to shut again

Sakura had a tear dripping down from her eye, knowing that things were going to be complicated from now on

Konohamaru ran into the room "Hey guys!" he said

Shizune punched him without hesitation, sending him flying out of the room and into the hallway, Shizune walked out "Can't you see that we have two people who are trying to rest in there!" she said in a low yet stern voice

Konohamaru grabbed his nose as he felt warm blood drip from it "Oww, that hurt! Why does every girl I know hit me!" he said in a lower tone of voice

"You will live, now what is so important that you had to barge in here screaming like a the world was coming to an end" She asked as Sakura joined them wanting to know what was going on

"Sasuke Sama has called an emergency meeting, he said that Sakura and Toshiro should also be there" He said getting back up on his feet

"What is this about?" Sakura asked

"I don't know, But Sasuke Sama said that it's about our future, or the past? I didn't really understand, but I bet we will get answers at the meeting"

"Alright, we will be there, just give us a few moments to wake up Toshiro, we will be there in ten minutes"

"Alright, everyone else is gathering, so don't take too long" Konohamaru said as he left the hospital making his way to the center of the village where a large fire had been lit for the meeting, everyone from the resistance was gathering around, wanting to know what was going on, since the last time Sasuke had asked them to gather was to announce Naruto's return, and that was only two days ago

A few minutes later Sakura. Shizune and a very tired Toshiro joined them; Sasuke got up and began talking

"Thank you everyone for coming on such short notice, I have gathered you all here today to ask your opinion on a course of action that we are unsure whether we want to take or not, so we decided to ask the opinion of you all since this will affect every single one of you, yes even you Sakura and our new night friend" he said looking at Toshiro "The decision that we make tonight will affect the entire nation and the outcome of the war"

"The outcome of the war?" Sakura asked puzzled

"First thing is first, Toshiro, we have a question for you" Shikamaru asked as he got up

Toshiro was very surprised, he wasn't expecting to have any part in the meeting other than just listening "Uh alright?" he answered awaiting the question

"We all know that your Kurokage has the power to send others into the future, but does he have the power to send someone back into time?"

"It's complicated, he can, but can't"

"Uh, say that again?"

"He can't just send anyone back, he can send anyone into the future, but he can't send just anyone back into time, if he could, he would just send his own men into the past and take over nations and countries without any of them knowing what hit them"

"Then who can he send back?" Shikamaru asked

"People who have a time differential, in other words, someone who doesn't belong in that time period" Toshiro answered him

"So, would someone like Naruto qualify?" Shikamaru asked once more

Toshiro finally realize what he was asking "He is from another time frame, meaning that he does not belong in this time like the rest of us, so yes, it is possible, but Kurokage Sama would never send him back…"

"Willingly maybe not" Itachi said as he entered the conversation "But give me five minutes with him and my Mangekyo Sharingan, and he will be begging me to allow him to return Naruto to his rightful time"

"Wait a minute, are you guys seriously thinking about sending him back?" Toshiro said as he got up from his chair "You do realize what that would do right?"

"Basically, everything that happened after Naruto's defeat will cease to exist, that is why we are gathered here, to make a decision" Shikamaru said "You just said it yourself, Naruto does NOT belong here, meaning that all this should never have happened" he added

"Yet it did happen, we have to think that everything we worked hard for, everything we have done so far, will just vanish, our children will cease to exist, the relationships we have develop will disappear, Toshiro, I believe that you and Sakura are good friends right? And that you were even chosen to be Naoto's god father, that would never happen if Naruto was allowed to return" Sasuke said wanting to make sure everyone understood the consequences of their decision

"What about all the people who died? Yamato died ten years ago in a raid for food!" Shizune cried out

"Is this what we want our children to grow up as? As bandits? Killing and stealing for food? We do the best we can with what we have, but in the end, that's what we have been reduced too, no matter how much we try to say that our little piece of paradise is perfect, in truth it isn't" Shikamaru said in his turn

Everyone was talking to one another

"EVERYONE, please settle down, you now know the plan, you also know what the consequences of the plan are if we succeed, it's time we decide, everyone will have a chance to voice their opinion" he told them

There was silence as no one knew what to do, Konohamaru suddenly got up "I say we go for it, I love my kids, I love my wife, but what kind of life are we going to give them? I don't want them to grow up begging for food, nor do I want them to steal from other people who need that food to survive, we are hunted everywhere we go, the night country would kill them if they were ever caught, what kind of life is that?"

Yuki got up beside him "I agree with him, I don't want my children to be raised like this if there is another way"

One by one, they were getting up voicing their concerns and how they thought sending Naruto back was the right choice, there were very few that opposed the idea, Sasuke stood surprised

"Are they really that miserable? Have I failed them as a leader…" Sasuke said

"You did your best with what you had little brother, truth is, eventually, we were going to be forced into a confrontation with the night if we were ever going to regain our true freedom, at least this way, we get to make things right from the very beginning" Itachi said trying to cheer Sasuke up

"Very well, since the majority have decided, we will begin planning on capturing the Kurokage and forcing him to send Naruto back where he belongs…"

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**End Chapter 38**

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Like i said, not much action, but as you can see, they have made there decision


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39 has arrived, fresh off my computer desk and onto the intranet!! :P

Gravenimage - Thanks for the review, and only time will tell if he will succeed, or die trying

Ribbongurl613 - ah, i see that you read the 4th chapter, yes indeed, i like my Uchiha story, to bad its not the real one :P but thanks for the review, and i hope your enjoying this story :D

Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, and yes indeed, as much as i love the NaruxSaku couple "Its my fav, and the only rightful girl he should end up with :P" having Sakura old enough to be his mother (twice his age) well, i can't moraly put them together :P

Sintar07 - Naruto actually makes a suggestion like that in this chapter, read to find out what happens :P, thanks for the review and i hope you continue to enjoy the story :)

Bombat1994 - It all depends what they want to do, there goal is not to incapacitate him, so he won't be using the same technique as he did against Kakashi, or at least , that's my explanation for it :P, but thanks for the review and hope you enjoy the story

ManiMan - Although, yes they did decide everything without Naruto's opinion, but Naruto was just to conflicted with himself and lost in his own thoughts, that issue is looked at in this chapter :) thanks for the review, enjoy 39 :D

lilal6 - Yay, awesomeness :D Thanks for liking my story, and i hope you enjoy chapter 39!

naru-ca-titan - I know you didn't review this chapter yet, but i forgot to mention something when i responded to your last review, i already know about Naruto the abridge series, but i prefer Yu-Gi-Oh The abridge series, but i love them both :P I just find that littlecoribo series is funnier :P hope your still reading my story :D

Chapter 39, wow, one away from 40, this story has gotten pretty big and popular, i just hope that i can keep living up to the expectations you guys have of me, well then, without delay, chapter 39!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 39  
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The next morning, everyone was working hard, training, making weapons and generally getting ready to fight and capture the Kurokage

Naruto was walking along the lake, he was lost in his thoughts, Sasuke had spotted him and ran up to join him "This is where you are, what are you doing? We are starting to plan our course of action"

"Is it really the right thing to do?" Naruto said, still unsure of what they were doing, Sasuke's words were still hunting him, all of this would cease to exist, just so he could regain his life

"Are you having second thoughts?" Sasuke asked him

"I don't know, I guess I am just trying to figure out if its right"

Sasuke let out a small sigh "I guess I can understand, at first, I was being a little bit selfish, I mean, we have worked very hard for everything we have now, I wanted to believe that we were happy, but last night, I saw that almost everyone is tired of this way of life"

"What if we just killed the Kurokage, that way you could come out of hiding"

"We do not have the forces required to retake the country, someone else would just take his place, and they would hunt us all down and finish us off, but why the sudden change in attitude? Just last night, you were all for this"

"It was before I really thought about what I was asking of you all, basically, I am asking that you all put your future in my hands, am I worthy of such trust? What if I screw up even worst, and somehow make the future worst"

"If you do, then it was meant to happen, I guess when Toshiro said that you didn't belong here, it hit me that this isn't how it is suppose to be, your own place in history has been denied, its time you reclaim it" Sasuke said with a smile as he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder

"Thanks Sasuke" Naruto said with a smile as he put his own hand on Sasuke's opposite shoulder "You really are the brother I never had"

"Whatever you say, little brother" Sasuke said teasingly as Naruto frowned pushing Sasuke "I always wanted to say that" he added with a grin

Some people had begun to gather at the entrance, catching Naruto's attention "What's going on?"

"Ah, our guest must have arrived, after the meeting last night, I sent an emergency message to one of your old friends"

"One of my old friends?" Naruto asked confused, since most of his friends were here, or dead, so who could this be?

Naruto and Sasuke walked over, there was a small group of three Ninja's entering, Naruto had to look twice to make sure he wasn't mistaken, the lead man had fire red hair, he had light green eyes, he wore a white and blue robe with blue and white hat hanging on the back of his neck and held by a string tied around his neck, but the most noticeable was his large brown gourd

"GAARA!" Naruto shouted happy to see his old friend and fellow Kage

"Naruto, it has been a long time my friend, you haven't changed, I guess the letter was true, you were really thrown into the future"

"Yeah…Some Hokage I turned out to be" Naruto said sadly

"It wasn't your fault, I only wished that we could have arrived fast enough to prevent it, but by the time we arrived, your people had already begun abandoning the city, so we helped everyone we could"

"How is the war going?" Sasuke asked him

"We are at a standstill, we do not possess the forces required to push them completely out of our nation, but they lack the experience and men to keep pushing into the desert, they did try an attack on the village a few years ago, but our defences were too fortified, and the heat drained the fight out of them, they quickly retreated after losing half their forces while we took minimum casualties"

"That's good, at least your people are safe"

"I have already told you, your people are more than welcome to join us, we would even allow you to remain leaf shinobis" Gaara told him

"Well… If what we have planned fails, we might have to take you up on your offer" Sasuke told him

"Indeed, your letter said this was an urgent matter, so me and my siblings came as fast as we could"

"Yes, we are planning to fix the timeline by forcing the Kurokage to send Naruto to his rightful place in time"

"Are you serious?!" Kankuro asked

"How do you plan on making the Kurokage simply send him back?" Temari asked

"We just need to capture the Kurokage, once he is in our hands, we will use our Mangekyo Sharingan to, shall we say, make him see things our way?" Sasuke said with a grin "Come, we are about to begin the planning, it would be an honour if you would attend the meeting Kazekage" he said in a respectful tone and a smile

Gaara nodded as the group began walking towards Sasuke's office

Inside the office were, Toshiro, Naruto, Shikamaru, Gaara, Konohamaru, Sakura, Itachi and of course Sasuke, they didn't have any room for anyone else "So we all know that the Kurokage resides in the occupied imperial capital city of fire, it is heavily fortified, and any attack with anything less than an army of thousands would be useless" Sasuke said as they opened up a map of the region

"I agree, the defences have been fortified against possible sand invasions since it was close to the borders, also there are three captains stationed there at all times as well as two thousand ninja's, not including the original city population that still resides there. There are weaknesses in the defences, but we do not have the manpower to exploit them" Toshiro explained

"There are two thousand night ninja's in that city alone? How many are there in the entire nation?" Naruto asked amazed

"Since we have invaded, we have kept on bringing in more people from our home land, our nation is one of the biggest on our continent, we have also been training new ninja's here, such as Naoto for example, but to answer your question, there are about eight thousand ninja's stationed around the occupied nations of fire, water, wave and a few other minor nations, a big chunk of them are in the capital city, another chunk are guarding the night wind borders and the rest are keeping order, a nation the size of the Fire Nation, and all of the surrounding nations we have invaded require a lot of men to keep in line"

"Alright, so an assault on the capital while its heavily defended is out of the questions, any ideas?"

"Yeah, I have one" Shikamaru said "But it will require some help from the wind, as well as yours Toshiro"

"You have my complete cooperation" Gaara told them

"What would you need me to do?" Toshiro asked, unsure about being at the meeting at all

"I will explain in a moment, let's begin with the first part of my plan, Kazekage, we would need for you to take as many of your men as you can and conduct the largest attack you can make on the border, you do not need to actually gain any ground, just make them think that it's a full out invasion"

"I think we can manage that" Gaara simply said

"Toshiro, am I right in assuming that the only place where they can get any re-enforcements are from the capital city?" Shikamaru asked

"That would be correct, that's the reason why there is such a high number of ninja's stationed there"

"So, if the sand ninja's were to make an attack that would make it look like they were going to invade, the Kurokage would be forced to send ninja's from the capital right? And if the attack is large enough, he might send a very large portion correct?"

"That would be correct, make the attack large enough, and he may just send out three quarters of the forces station there"

"Why would he send such a large force?" Gaara asked

"Because, if he believed that you were attacking with most of your men, he would try to not only stop your advance, but once he would have taken your men out, he would launch an immediate counter attack, hoping that your defences would be weakened enough to invade Suna"

"I cannot allow that to happen" Gaara said

"Of course not" Shikamaru said with a grin "But remember, this is not an invasion, all your men are doing there is making it look like your invading, it takes about 2 hours for their re-enforcements to arrive, so after about one hour of keeping them busy, retreat back to Suna, they will believe that you were retreating because your men are weakened and they will launch their attack on a target they believed to be defenceless, but in reality, you will be fully prepared to take them on your home turf"

"That's brilliant Shikamaru" Sasuke said to his friend

"Now then, once they have left, we will launch our own attack against the capital, they will be overconfident with their large walls and defences, they will believe that we are simply there for a raid and that we will be quickly dealt with, but we will have someone on the inside, ready to open the gates for us, Toshiro, this is where you come in, do you think you can do that?"

Toshiro looked at Shikamaru as his face began to turn pale, he had just asked him to betray his country, going against orders to save Naoto was one thing, but now he was being asked to willingly and knowingly betray his country to help the resistance attack his own leader

"Toshiro, this plan relies on your cooperation, without you, we might be able to somehow get into the city by scaling the walls, but not before we would have taken large losses, leaving us with little to take out the defenders, and even less to deal with the captains and Kurokage himself"

Toshiro looked at Sakura "Toshiro, you don't need to do it if you don't want to"

"What are you saying Sakura!" Sasuke asked her

"Sasuke! Think about what you're asking him! It must already be hard enough for him to be here, let alone being asked to turn his back and betray his country"

"I…" Toshiro said stuttering

"It's alright Toshiro, I guess I should have thought about your own personal feelings regarding this plan, alright, we will have to think of another way of getting inside and opening the doors for our forces to…" but Shikamaru was cut off

"I will do it…" Toshiro finally said surprising everyone, especially Sakura

"What? Are you sure Toshiro? Don't feel like you have to do it" Sakura told him

"No, it's alright, I love my country, but I do not agree with the way Kurokage Sama has done things, we never should have invaded, I will do as you ask" He said looking at Shikamaru

"Are you sure about this?" Naruto asked him

"Positive" Toshiro said without hesitating

"Alright then, I guess the plan is back on" Shikamaru said with a smile, mostly because he was happy he didn't have to think of a new plan, it's not like he couldn't, but he was lazy and liked his first plan "Now then, once the gates are open, we quickly storm inside, taking out as many of their defenders as we can while they are still in a state of confusion, There are three captains that we will have to deal with, Toshiro, do you happen to know which ones will be there ?"

"Urahara Kisuke the twelve division captain, Kuchiki Byakuya, the sixth division captain will be there as fighters, and Unohana Retsu, the fourth division captain, she is a medical ninja, the best in the night country"

"Leave me Kisuke" Sasuke said "I have some unfinished business with him, he is the one who killed Yamato a few years ago when we attacked a night supply convoy that we thought was lightly guarded" Sasuke said coldly, feeling responsible for his death

"Leave me the Medical Ninja" Sakura simply said "I want to show her what a leaf medical ninja can do, and I have a lot of repressed anger to let out" she added

"I can take on Byakuya, he is very strong, perhaps the strongest next to me in the captains" Toshiro said

"Are you sure that you can turn your blade on your own people?" Itachi asked him

"I have already disobeyed orders, I am about to commit treason, there is no turning back from that, plus, if we succeed, it won't really matter" Toshiro simply said

"So that leaves me the Kurokage" Naruto said

"I will be with you as well Hokage Sama" Itachi said "If I can lock him into my Sharingan quickly enough, we might be able to send you back with few injuries"

"That's not how it works…" Toshiro suddenly said

"What?" Shikamaru asked

"Once Naruto is sent back, he will end up in the same condition he left that time period, he will find himself with the same injuries he had, also, he won't remember anything that's happened here, after all, none of this will have ever happened in the first place, and if he does remember anything, it will feel like a vague dream"

"In other words, he is going to leave exactly where he left off?" Sasuke asked

"Correct, so, are you sure you want to go through with this?" Toshiro asked him

"Yes" Naruto said, confident that he can defeat the Kurokage

"After all, the Kurokage himself will be weak, it was his last trump card, a final ditch attempt at winning against Naruto, even with his injuries, the Kurokage wouldn't even have the chakara he needed to stop Naruto" Itachi said, remembering how tired and weak the Kurokage was after his attack on Naruto

"Well then, it is agreed?" Shikamaru asked as everyone nodded

"I will return to Suna right away, it will take me most of the day to return, I should be ready to commence the attack at dawn tomorrow, is that acceptable?" he asked

"Yes, we will be ready on our end" Sasuke told him

"Gaara, be careful alright? Don't get yourself killed, I would hate for Suna to suffer if we were to fail…" Naruto said seriously to his friend

"I have no doubt that you will prevail Naruto, you are the Hokage of the leaf, and your fire glows brightly, no one can put it out, after all, darkness is afraid of light" he said with a rare smile "Good Luck Naruto" he said as he got up and left, everyone else began to leave the room, but Sakura stayed behind with Naruto

"Naruto…" She said nervous about being alone with him after what she had done the day before "I want to say that I am sorry about the things I said yesterday, I mean, I had twenty years to think about all of this, you had barely any time"

"It's alright Sakura Chan, I know that what you said makes sense, I still love you, but we are worlds apart now" he said sadly "That's why I must go back and reclaim my life, make things right, I want to see my own daughter as she is born into this world, I want to be able to hold her and teach her everything I know, I want to be able to be there for her, I want to be the one who chasses off any of the male population that dares sets eyes on her…I want to be a real father Sakura chan, and I want you back to…"

"I know Naruto… I also know that you will make a great father, I just hope that we don't lose you a second time" she said, not wanting to think about what would happen if Naruto were to be killed in this attack "Naruto, Naoto would like to talk to you, she wants to get to know her father, I know that it's pointless since once you return into the past, none of this will have happened, but…"

"It's not pointless, at least not to me" he said with a smile "Let's go see her together" he said as Sakura nodded, holding back a tear of happiness as the two of them left the office to see their daughter together

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**End Chapter 39**

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So the plan is set, tomorrow at dawn, it begins


	40. Chapter 40

Well, i took the weekend off from writing to rest up, so forgive me for not updating for the past few days

Well now then, i shall respond to my reviewers :)

Gravenimage - thanks for the review, hope you like 40 :)

lilal6 - thanks for the review, indeed, a very hard battle is coming up for Naruto, will he be able to succeed? only time will tell :)

Chi-Neko - thanks to the review, i am confused, yes Shikamaru did refer to him as Kazekage, Gaara is the 5th Kazekage of the sand

Tenshi Aine - thanks for the review, well this is one of the first semi negative reviews i have ever had, i am not classifying it as 100% bad, but still, i guess that's your opinion and your entitle to it :) yes, i admit it, i am not perfect, my first language is actually french "French Canadian" but i am perfectly bilingual, my point is in all this, that yes i do some grammar mistakes, but i find that i do alright, i have read some of the fanfictions out there, and i am forced to shake my head sometimes at them, because some grammar is REALLY bad, i on the other hand think i am at least average good, anyway, but thanks for the review anyway, its always good to get some criticism, i do hope however that you continue to read on, if not then thanks for dropping by :)

Bombat1994 - thanks for the review, yes operation send Naruto back is indeed go :P hope you enjoy chapter 40

narusaku305 - thanks for the review and the compliment, hope you like 40 :)

xzavx - x3 - hey, your finally cough up :D thanks for the review, and i hope you stick around until the end, enjoy 40 :)

JDog335 - thanks for the review and compliment, and no, i cannot morally make that happen, so sorry :/ but i hope you enjoy 40 :)

naru-ca-titan - YAY! Your back!! And aww about being sick :( i was worried you had abandoned my story and that i wouldn't get to see your awesome reviews/add/emotions/pudding, to answer your question, i have just decided it was time to take a small break, so i took the weekend off, so i apologize, i did have a minor block for this chapter, but it didn't last long :P i hope i don't get any more, i am very happy that you are feeling better, and i hope that you enjoy chapter 40

Sintar07 - thanks for the review :) enjoy 40

Alright, that's everyone, had quite a few there :P now then, i know you guys were probably expecting this to be a grand big and awesome chapter, with me being gone for a few days and this being chapter 40, but i am sorry to say that no, this is just a regular chapter, i though about making it a huge chapter, but i wouldn't have been able to post it tonight, and i felt that three days was long enough to wait, i know how i feel when i am waiting for people to update there damn stories, some of them have had me waiting for like a month for an update!! i promised myself i wouldn't do that to my fans :P so then, without further delay, chapter 40!

**Disclaimer – I still do not own Naruto, though i plan on winning a few loto's and buying it out... yeah i wish :P i also don't own bleach, that i can live without, though its still cool, Naruto owns it!! :D the only char that belongs to me is Naoto cause i created her :)**

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 40  
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Naruto and Sakura entered Naoto's room; she was eating breakfast but stopped once she Saw Naruto and Sakura walk in, Naruto smiled seeing her face again, Naoto got up to take a closer look at him "Is he…Really my father?" She asked Sakura

"Yes sweetie, this is Namikaze Naruto, your father" She answered

"But, I don't understand, he looks so young… Is he using a jutsu so he looks that way?" She asked again

"You haven't told her?" Naruto asked Sakura

"I haven't had the chance" She answered him "Naoto sweetie, twenty years ago, when the Night country attacked Konoha, your father fought the Kurokage, their battle was intense, they destroyed a large chunk of the city, but your father had the upper hand, the Kurokage seeing this used his last trump card, he used a technique that sent your father into a time vortex, his plan was that if he couldn't defeat him now, he would defeat him in the future, a few months away"

"Wow, you're really that strong?" Naoto asked her father

Naruto smiled at her and nodded

"But what happened then? Why didn't he kill him?"

"We believe that he miscalculated, instead of sending your father a few months into the future, he sent him twenty years…"

"Wait, then, does that mean when I found him a few days ago, with all those injuries…"

"Yes, we believe that when you found him, that he had just exited the vortex, the injuries you healed were caused during his fight with the Kurokage"

"Had you not found me, I would have likely died, and had anyone else from the night found me, they would have finished me off, or delivered me to the Kurokage, either way, I would have been killed" Naruto told her

Naoto was staring at Naruto, she still had a hard time to believe that he was in fact her real father "Father…" she simply said embracing Naruto in a hug as tears were rolling down her face

Naruto wrapped his own arms around her "Naoto, I am so sorry for not being in your life until now, but I promise that I will fix everything…"

Suddenly Toshiro entered the room, he was once again dressed in his full captain attire and wore the night headband, he held in his hands what seemed to be a night country uniform "Naoto, I need you to put this on" he simply said

"What? Why?" She asked him

"We are going to the capital city" he answered

"What? We never said anything about Naoto going with you!" Naruto suddenly said

"Look, Naoto is my apprentice, I don't want to bring her either, but if I don't, then it will be suspicious, also the Kurokage asked me to bring her so he can meet her face to face"

"What? Why does he want to meet my little girl! Does he know who she is?" Naruto said fearing that Naoto could be in danger if he allowed her to go

"No, as far as he is concerned, she is Sakura's daughter, but he does not know who the father is, and the reason why he wants to meet is because she is the first apprentice I took on since being a captain, and he wants to see what makes her, well special"

"So he has never met her? How long has she been a ninja for?" Naruto asked

"She has been a ninja since she was twelve, but every time I went to the capital city for reports or meetings, I would not bring her, that's why he told me that the next time I come, I had to bring her, if I don't it will upset him and may hinder my mission"

"What mission?" Naoto asked wondering what was going on, but no one answered her

"Are you sure that she will be safe?" Sakura asked him

"Sakura, you know that I would give my life to protect her, you have my word that she will not be harmed while she is by my side, and I will not allow myself to be separated from her"

"I know, I trust you Toshiro" Sakura said smiling at him

"If she trusts you, then I guess I do to…" Naruto said, still unhappy about allowing Naoto to go into the enemy stronghold, even if she was one of them

"WILL SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON AND STOP IGNORING ME!" Naoto screamed out, tired of being treated as if she wasn't there

"We don't have the time to explain everything to you Naoto, just come with me; I will explain along the way, we must make it to the capital city by sundown"

"Mom?" Naoto asked turning to Sakura

"Do as he say's sweetie"

"But… I don't want to go after just meeting my father for the first time…"

"And it could be the last time…" Naruto thought to himself as he realized that if they succeed, this Naoto will cease to exist, and he probably wouldn't have any other chances to sit down and talk with her after this. Without warning he took Naoto in his arms and held her tightly as he hugged her not wanting to let go, trying to hide the tears that were starting to form around his eyes, he held her tightly against his chest

"Father?" Naoto asked not knowing what was going on, or why Naruto was being so emotional, but his arms around her felt good, they felt warm, and they felt safe, as if nothing could harm her as long as she was being held by him. She wrapped her own arms around him

"Naoto, I know that we never had a chance to get to know each other, but I want you to know that I love you very much, I am so proud of you" he said as he kissed her forehead

"Why are you acting as if we aren't going to see each other again…Father, is there something you're not telling me?"

"Don't worry Naoto, everything is going to be alright, Toshiro will explain everything" he said as he reluctantly let go of Naoto to wipe his eyes with his sleeve

Toshiro began walking out of the hospital and motioned for Naoto to fallow him, she hesitated for a moment, feeling that something was wrong "Naoto, come, we have no time to waste" he told her

"Yes Sensei" she said finally making her way out of the room, but not before taking one last look at Naruto and Sakura, she could tell they were both holding back tears, and it scared her, it was as if they were not expecting to see her again, was this mission that Toshiro was leading her on really that dangerous?

Naruto let out a large sigh, knowing that Naoto's safety was out of his hands, at least for the time being "So what are we going to do until the attack?" Sakura asked

"Training… We may only have until tonight before we set off, but I will use every hour, every minute that I can to prepare"

"Do you want my help? I know that I have only returned as a shinobi recently, but I have been training myself and keeping in shape in order to train and protect Naoto" She said with a smile

Naruto smiled back at her "That would be great Sakura Chan" he said as the two exited the room

Hours later Toshiro and Naoto were nearing the capital city, Toshiro had explained everything, the plan and the outcome if it was successful, as well as the outcome if it was to fail, she had mixed feelings about it all, happy that her father would be sent to his real time, meaning that she would grow up with him in her life, but on the other hand, back then, Toshiro was an enemy, that would mean that her father would have to fight him, and she would never meet him

Toshiro approached the massive gates as the guards bowed at the higher ranked shinobi "Captain Hitsugaya! We weren't expecting you sir" one of them said

"I have some business to tend too" he simply said in his regular calm voice

"Who is this? I don't believe I have seen her before" The man asked looking at Naoto, she was wearing her black night country uniform rather than her regular orange and black, she also had an armband on her arm, it was white and had the number ten on it "Could this be your apprentice?" the man asked, knowing that the color of the armband being white meant she was a captain's apprentice, and the ten being Toshiro's division, they were different from the vice captain's, they were black armbands with a silver plaque on them with the division number

"Yes, she is going to meet the Kurokage for the first time" he simply said

"Wow, the Kurokage wants to meet her personally? That's lucky, you know that means that she could one day be a captain if she impresses him enough" The man said with a smile

But before they could finish their conversation and continue on their way, they were suddenly surrounded by a group of ninja's, the one leading them was none other than Matsumoto "Seize her!" she shouts out as two of them grab Naoto by the arms forces her to the ground making sure she can't move

Toshiro was in shock "Get your hands off of my apprentice NOW" he said in a very angry tone, one that none of them had heard before, including Matsumoto

"But sir, we have reasons to believe that she is a resistance spy!" one of the men who was holding Naoto down said

Without warning Toshiro attacked one of them, sending him crashing to the ground, while Naoto used the opportunity to kick the other one off while getting onto a defensive stance

"The next one of you to touch my apprentice, will regret it, now Matsumoto, you have ten seconds to explain yourself before I rip that vice captain armband from you and throw you in the nearest cell for assaulting not only a fellow night shinobi, but a captains apprentice"

"Sorry captain, but her mother attacked us while wearing the resistance headband; she cannot be trusted, for all we know she is working with her mother as a resistance spy sir!" she quickly said

"Do you take me for a fool?" Toshiro simply said in his cold voice

"Captain?" Matsumoto asked him confused

"Of course she is a resistance member, why do you think that I had been keeping an eye on her all these years"

"But what about her Captain?" she said pointing at Naoto

"She is completely loyal to me, and no one else, I trained her, I was the one who took care of her while she grew up, do you think that I do not know my own apprentice?"

"But she is still her daughter…"

"She is NOT my mother, she is a traitor, Sensei gave her a home and the safety of the night, and she betrayed him! I cannot forgive her, and I swear to you that I will take her down myself!" Naoto said with almost the same cold and emotionless voice as Toshiro, but deep down inside, her heart was breaking, saying those things about her mother tore her up, even if she knew that she was lying to them

"Now I demand you apologize to her Matsumoto, then, remove yourself from my sight before I decide to send you to the eleventh division, I am sure you could get twentieth seat or something"

"Haruno Chan, please accept my sincerest apologies, I should not have doubted your loyalties, I was just trying to be vigilant, please forgive me" Matsumoto said almost begging

Naoto had never liked Matsumoto and was kind of enjoying seeing her on her knees "**YEAH BITCH, BEG LIKE THE SLUT THAT YOU ARE! SENSEI SEND HER TO THE ELEVENTH!**" inner Naoto screamed and demanded, causing Naoto to smile a bit "If you ever accuse me of treason again, I will show you why I was chosen to be the tenth division captains apprentice" She said as she took out her blade "Now get the hell out of here before I decide to cut you down!" Naoto said with a grin

Matsumoto wasted no time in disappearing from both their sights along with the men that had attacked them "Wow, I have never seen Matsumoto tremble like that, serves her right for being the bossy bitch that she is" one of the guards said

"Hold your tongue, she may be a bitch, but she is still my vice captain…for now" Toshiro said to them

"Yes, of course sir, my apologies please proceed" he said as he bowed at him and allowed them entrance into the capital city

Naoto was amazed at the size of the city and the amount of people in it. This was her first time being there "That was a bit harsh about your mother wasn't it?" Toshiro said to her as they walked the streets

"I know, but I wanted to make it sound good" she said sadly

"Well, I doubt we will be seeing Matsumoto for a while, I think she was so embarrassed that she is going to hide herself away for a few days" he said with a grin

"I don't get why you tolerate her sensei, I can tell she hates me, she always had from the very beginning"

"Don't worry about her, she is just worried that you are going to be her replacement"

"Me, her replacement? There is no way that I am of vice captain calibre sensei"

"You are right, you are not of a vice captain's calibre" he simply said, although Naoto knew she wasn't, it still hurt hearing him say it like that, and so coldly too, but he then smiled at her "You are of Captain calibre, and I know you would have made a great captain to" he said to her causing her to blush from embarrassment

"You give me too much credit sensei" she said in return

"Naoto, you have yet to even scratch the surface of your potential, there are powers locked inside of you that you are not even aware of yet" he told her

"You mean like…What happened to me in earth country?" she said remembering how she had not only transformed, but lost control of herself

Toshiro nodded at her, they continued to chat as they made their way throughout the city streets

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Well that's that, the peices are set, emotions are running high, what will happen? will anything go wrong? find out soon!


	41. Chapter 41

YAY Chapter 41 is here :)

YAY now i get to answer my reviewers :D

Gravenimage - Thanks for the review, hope you like 41 :)

Bombat1994 - Thanks for the review, have you ever played the Persona games? in Persona 4, there is a char called Naoto, i liked the name and though it would make a great name for Naruto's daughter :)

RairyuuBlade - Thanks for the review, i hope you keep enjoying the story, and also hope you enjoy 41 :)

RSfan - thanks for the constructive review :) i was not thinking about the blade, so thank you, i did try to fix that small issue in this chapter :) i hope is satisfies you ;) anyway enjoy 41! :D

narusaku305 - Thanks for the review, hope you like 41 :)

Cecixx19 - Thanks for the review, I honestly didn't think that when i begun that this story would turn into such a huge monster, i had only a small plot in mind when i begun, but everyone enjoyed it and i just got shot after shots of inspiration and well... here i am, 41 chapters latter :P so i hope you enjoy it :)

Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, and that's alright at least now i am not confused anymore :P hope you enjoy 41 :D

lilal6 - Thanks for the review, and here it is :P but sorry only 41, no 42 yet lol hope you enjoy it :)

naru-ca-titan - Thanks for the review as always :D, yeah, i felt bad making her say those things, but she had to be convincing, but she didn't mean any of it, i hope you like this new chapter :D

Now that i have responded to all your awesome reviews, on with the main event, Chapter 41!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 41  
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The Kurokage was dinning with his captains and their vice captains when the doors opened and a guard walked in interrupting their meal "My lord, tenth division captain Hitsugaya and his apprentice have arrived in the city, they are waiting for you in the audience hall" he told him

"Toshiro is here?" Byakuya the sixth division captain said

"So, the brat has finally brought in his apprentice, I wouldn't mind meeting her myself, he always spoke highly of her, I want to see what all the fuss is about" Kisuke the twelfth division captain commented

The Kurokage grinned "Well this is a surprise, I wasn't expecting Toshiro to be here so soon after the last captain's meeting, tell him that I will join him in a few minutes" he told the guard as he got up to clean himself from the meal

The guard quickly nodded and made his exit

"Kurokage Sama, may we join you in greeting Hitsugaya?" Kisuke asked

"I want to meet her personally, so you will have to wait your turn Kisuke" he said with a grin as he slipped his captain cloak on and exited the room

"I don't understand why he likes that little runt so much" Kisuke said

"Because, they grew up together, although we are all loyal to him, he regards Toshiro almost like his brother and considers him his most loyal captain, there is also the fact that out of all of us, Toshiro could beat us all in a battle and could hold his own against Kurokage Sama" Retsu the fourth division captain said while finishing up her meal

Toshiro and Naoto were waiting in the audience hall, Naoto had applied makeup to once again cover her marks as she paced from left to right while Toshiro was perfectly calm "Calm down Naoto, there is no reason to be nervous" Toshiro told her trying to get her to settle down

"That's easy for you to say, you have known him since you were what? Five years old?" Naoto responded

"Actually, I have known him all my life; our families were very close to each other, we trained together almost every day" Toshiro responded

"Indeed we did my good friend" a voice from behind them came; Naoto was surprised while Toshiro calmly turned around "Toshiro! It is good to see you again, but I am curious as to why you are here"

"Kurokage Sama, I have come to report a major event" Toshiro told him in his usual calm voice "My apprentice who was on patrol along the night earth border has observe a major resistance force enter the earth borders, once they returned, she was able to capture one and make him talk using her medical knowledge as a tool, it appears that the resistance attacked the earth country, killing there Tsuchikage and killing some of their ANBU as well as cause a panic inside Iwa"

Ichigo was almost in shock "When you said you had news for me, I had no idea it was this big, but how sure are you of the information?"

"Naoto's interrogating skills are quite impressive sir, she also knows how to use her knowledge of the human body to cause the maximum amount of pain without killing them, she is quite impressive for her age my lord" Toshiro said with a smile and pride

"Well then, it is rare for you to speak so highly of someone with such emotion Toshiro, so this is her then?" he said looking at Naoto who had remained silent

"Yes sir, this is Haruno Naoto, my apprentice"

"So I finally get to meet the one that has finally caught Toshiro's eye" he said while walking up to Naoto taking a good look at her "Toshiro, do you mind if I have a private talk with her?"

Toshiro suddenly got nervous "Uh why my lord?" he finally asked

"Well, I want to talk to her without you in the room, don't worry, I won't get her to tell me your secrets my friend" he said in a joking tone

Toshiro was uncomfortable, he had promised both Naruto and Sakura that he would not allow himself to be separated from her "Is that really necessary my lord?" he asked hoping to change his mind

"Toshiro, you really are overprotective about her aren't you? It makes me want to find out about her even more now, what does this kid have that makes her so special huh?" He said with a grin "Come now Toshiro, it's actually funny, all these years I have never seen you as nervous as you are right now, wait for us outside will you?" Ichigo asked Toshiro

Toshiro reluctantly nodded, he did whisper something in Naoto's ear before he left "Don't worry, just stay calm, everything will be fine, I will be just outside" the doors shut behind him leaving her alone with Ichigo

Ichigo walked around Naoto so he could check her out from every angle, Naoto was standing at attention, a small drop of sweat began to drip from her forehead, Ichigo could tell that she was very nervous and afraid "Don't worry, I am not going to hurt you or anything" he said with a smile "I am just curious to know what made Toshiro pick you as his first apprentice after having none for fifteen years, I will say one thing, he sure did pick a cute one" he said with a warm smile trying to make her feel more comfortable with him "So, I know your mother is Haruno Sakura, but tell me, who is your father?"

"My father?... I well I never met my father my lord, he died in the original attack on Konoha" she told him, It was partly true

"Do you hate us for that?"

"No my lord, I was born after the attack, I don't even know anyone from the resistance, let alone what Konoha was like, the night country is my home, and Sensei has been training me since I was strong enough to throw a Kunai my lord"

"I see, that explains why he is so attached to you, I guess he must have felt responsible for the death of your father that he decided to take care of you, he always was the emotional one" he said with a smile

"Sensei, emotional?! I have a hard time believing that…Uh my lord"

"He tries to hide it with that strong front he puts up for everyone, but I know him better than that, we were best friends since we were kids, he use to smile a lot back then, but one day, his parents were sent on a mission that got them killed, he was only seven years old, after that day, he barely ever smiled again, he kept on saying that his parents died an honourable death for their country, but deep down inside, he was crying like any seven year old would do"

"Wow, he never told me that" Naoto said, thinking about her Sensei and god father in a new light

"Well then, that is an interesting blade you have there, mind if I take a look?" he asked her

Naoto suddenly begun to feel nervous again as she took out her blade, she handed it to him hilt first as he took it in his hands and examined it

"This blade, where did you get it?" he asked her seriously

"It…I was told by my mother that it use to belong to the Hokage of the leaf, the resistance had picked it up before retreating, she took it with her when she ran away from them, they were very close..Friends and she felt an emotional attachment to the blade" Naoto told him, hoping he would buy the story

"This is a great blade, you should be proud to wield such a weapon, its previous owner was great warrior who gave me my toughest battle" he said with a smile as he handed her back the blade hilt first before she put the weapon away

"Thank you my lord, I am honoured"

They continued to talk together, Naoto was no longer as nervous, the Kurokage was nothing like she had pictured him to be, he was actually a nice person, and he though very highly of Toshiro

Toshiro in the mean time was pacing from left to right just outside the door, his hair was a mess "What if she gets so nervous that she reveals something about our mission…or Naruto" he thought to himself, suddenly the doors open and both Ichigo and Naoto exit, Naoto was smiling and laughing, much to Toshiro's surprise

"Toshiro! Why did you hide her from me for so long!"

"Excuse me my lord?" he asked confused

"She is a great apprentice, I am even considering putting her up for captain once her apprenticeship is over, and as long as you put her up for recommendation"

Toshiro was shocked, what had happened in that room? "Uh of course Kurokage Sama"

"I feel great, how about tonight we celebrate? I feel like having a good time with my best friend and his cute young apprentice" Ichigo said with a smile

Toshiro couldn't believe it, this actually worked in their favor, but he was still very curious about what had happened in that room "That would be great my lord" Toshiro answered

"Look, for tonight, I am not the Kurokage; you are not a captain, so let's do away with the formalities and have a good time, that goes for you too Naoto, no calling me Kurokage Sama, or my lord, tonight, it's just plain Ichigo" he said with a smile

"Uh, are you sure that's alright?" Naoto asked

"If I say that it's alright, then it's alright" he said with a small laugh "For one night, I just want to forget about being Kurokage and go out for a bit of fun, that also means you don't need to call Toshiro sensei for tonight" he said with a grin

Toshiro felt horrible inside "How can I betray him… How can I turn my back on him? Damn it!" He thought to himself as he begun having second thoughts about the plan

"Come on guys, I know this place that makes the best pizza in the city, I know you love pizza Toshiro, and from what Naoto told me during our talk, so does she" he said with a grin as he lead them both out

Meanwhile Sasuke had rounded up the entire resistance "Everyone, I thank you for coming, last night we all took a vote and the result was that we would fight to return Naruto to his rightful time, however, this will not be an easy task, and I will be honest, a lot of us might not come back from this, but if we succeed, then Naruto will be sent back to the past and everything will be as it should, if we fail, then it's over, the resistance will cease to exist , I have already asked some of our elders to lead our children to the safety of Suna where the Kazekage will take them in and protect them in the event none of us return, but I know that we will succeed, because you are the best, the strongest and the brightest of the fire nation and of Konoha, The sand will begin their attack at dawn, so we must be ready to act, Shikamaru will explain our plan" Sasuke said as he stepped aside

"Thank you Sasuke Sama, now then, we cannot stay together, such a large group will only bring unwanted attention, so we will break up into smaller groups" he said as he opened up a large map "every group will move to their designated locations and wait for the signal to attack, once our attack begins, our people on the inside will open up the gates, we will then proceed inside and fight off the defenders"

Sasuke stepped back up "So this is the last chance for anyone here to back out, if you feel that what we are doing is wrong then please, leave now, because once we begin, there is no going back" he looked around but no one had moved

"Sasuke Sama, no one here would turn their back on Hokage Sama, we must send him back where he belongs, we know that he will make everything right!" Konohamaru shouted out

Naruto had a tear in his eye, he stepped up next to Sasuke "Everyone, I want to thank you all, I know that I don't deserve such loyalty, but I swear that I will live up to it" Everyone shouted to show there support

They all separated into groups, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were one of the groups, team seven had reunited as they begun there long march towards the occupied capital city

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**End Chapter 41  
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Well then, my goal for this chapter was to put a human face on Ichigo, so i hope you all enjoyed it :D next chapter coming soon!


	42. Chapter 42

Here is chapter 42! yay :)

now for my reviewers

Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, yeah, Toshiro is faced with a tough decision, and he will have to make it very soon

RairyuuBlade - thanks for the review, yes indeed i am really fast :P and thanks for the compliment, i hope you continue to enjoy the story :D

Bombat1994 - thanks for the review, and indeed :P

Sintar07 - thanks for the review, yes, indeed, though choice, also this chapter has more of Ichigo in it :P

stinkyhead - wow, that's all i have to say to that, i can normally take criticism, but this made no sense at all to me, are you the type who will judge a book by its cover? i can't believe you judge an entire story on the first paragraph that you got wrong by the way, it was NEVER implied that Sasuke had killed Itachi, what was implied was that Orochimaru tried to take over Sasuke's body before Sasuke could kill him, had i implied that Itachi would have been killed by Sasuke, it would have been said like this, Sasuke killed Orochimaru before he **KILLED **Itachi, well since you decided to judge my entire story on that one paragraph, you will probably never get to read this, but oh well, thanks for coming, at least lots of other people love my story :P

Gravenimage - thanks for the review, update is here :P

RSfan - thanks for the review, as i said again and again to the others here, yes he has a though choice ahead of him, what choice will he make? time will tell :P

xzavx - x2 - thanks for the review, uh chapter 41 was already up :P i think you meant chapter 42 ;) and now its here :D

naru-ca-titan - thanks for the review, yes indeed, 205 now! yay :D i would be sooo happy if i were to hit the big 1000, but i doubt i will :P oh well, as always your crazy yet funny reviews make my smile, so please keep on reading and reviewing :D, oh by the way, i loved the picture of Naruto you made, its great, i want to have some art talent too :(

well that's everyone, now then, without further delay, i give you chapter 42!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 42  
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Naoto, Toshiro and Ichigo were hanging out at a bar having a good time after eating the pizza together, although Ichigo didn't eat much since he had just eaten before they arrived, but he took a few slices anyway, Ichigo was happy to be spending some time with Toshiro "Man, when was the last time that we just hanged out together like this?"

"Two years ago I believe" Toshiro responded

"Well, we need to do it more often! And I want you to bring Naoto along from now on, she is a great apprentice Toshiro, you really did pick a good one" he said with a smile, Naoto could only blush at the comment while Toshiro was feeling worst by the second, something that Ichigo had noticed "What's bothering you? You have been acting like something is on your mind the entire night" he asked him

"Nothing is wrong; I just have a lot on my mind that's all"

"Does it have anything to do with Naoto's mother?" he asked him

"What?" Toshiro responded

"Look, I know about her, I received the report, it must be bothering you both"

"Uh..Yeah that's what I have been thinking about, we were very close friends"

"I know, that's why I am willing to forgive her, just try to talk to her, also, I am willing to forgive the entire resistance, I believe it's time that we let go of the past"

"Really?" Naoto asked

"Yes, nothing will be gained by hunting them down, I am even prepared to talk to their leader myself, this twenty years of bloodshed must end"

"What about the war with the sand?" Naoto asked

"They declared war on us first, and I will not back down, I admit that we are currently at a standstill, but I am content with leaving things as they are for now, if they want peace, they will have to be the ones who come to us, not me to them" Ichigo answered her "But enough about the war, we are here to have some fun! The night is still young" He said as he drank some sake

Naoto stared at her own cup, she was of age to drink now, but she had never tried any before, she smelled it a bit, she took a sip, her eyes opened wide as she forced it down her throat, she immediately stuck her tongue out, obviously not impressed by the taste

Ichigo was very amused at the scene "Is this your first time drinking Naoto?" he asked her

"She is only eighteen after all" Toshiro commented

Ichigo continued to laugh as Naoto didn't find any of it to be funny "The look on your face is priceless" he said teasingly "Sake is an acquired taste, the more you drink it, the more you will get use to it, trust me, you should have seen Toshiro the first time he drank, he made the exact same face you did!" Ichigo said with a smile "But he kept on drinking, and did he ever drink, he was so drunk that…"

"Maybe this isn't the time to be talking about that…" Toshiro quickly trying to stop Ichigo from finishing the story

"Oh but my dear friend, this is the BEST time to be talking about it" he said with an evil grin "Your apprentice needs to know what kind of man her sensei is when he is drunk"

"No she doesn't…" Toshiro said embarrassed

Naoto had never seen Toshiro like this before, she was now curious to know the story "Please Toshiro?" she asked him with a sad face

"ARG! That's dirty Naoto, you got that from your mother didn't you…" Toshiro said trying to resist, but she kept on staring at him with the same sad face, he could swear there were tears forming around her eyes "Fine, tell her" he finally said

Naoto suddenly began to smile again as she waited for the continuation of the story, Ichigo was trying to hold back a laugh "She is good" he simply said before he continued the story "As you know, Toshiro is very calm and collected, well when he got drunk, that pretty much went out the window, he danced with almost every girl that was in the bar, he then decided that he wanted a swim, so he left the bar and jumped in the lake, without his cloths"

Naoto snapped, she began to laugh hysterically as she was trying to picture Toshiro not only dancing smiling and having a good time, but also jumping naked into the lake

"Some friend you were, you could have stopped me…" Toshiro said in a grumpy tone at Ichigo

Ichigo joined Naoto in laughing at his expense "Sorry Toshiro, but I was in shock at the time, and you were having such a good time, I didn't want to ruin it" he said with a grin

Naoto was finally able to get a hold of herself and stop laughing, she stared at her cup of Sake for a second and decided to down it all in one shot, as she forced it down her throat once more, she stuck out her tongue again wanting to gag, wondering how long it takes to get use to the taste

The night continued to go by as the three had a good time together as the hours just passed. Naoto was now completely drunk, she had a hard time standing on her feet, but she was having a good time and didn't really care as she danced to the music, Ichigo and Toshiro were sitting at one of the tables

"She is going to have a splitting headache tomorrow" Ichigo said with a grin "Ah, to be a teenager again" he added

"Yeah…" he simply said as he was lost in his own thoughts "I have been friends with Ichigo since I was born, we trained together, we grew up together, he was there for me when my family was killed…And I always supported his decisions as the Kurokage, how can I betray him like this? But I don't agree with this war, it was wrong to invade in the first place, but does that justify turning my back on him? But if I don't the entire resistance will be wiped out in the attack , and if I do… Then again, if Naruto does go back to his rightful place in time, I would never have betrayed him right?" Toshiro continued to think to himself

Ichigo realized that he had lost track of Naoto "Uh Toshiro, did you see where Naoto went?"

Toshiro snapped back to reality "What? No…" he said as he got up and looked around the room, but he couldn't find her, he quickly ran outside and looked around, he found her armband on the ground, he looked at the foot prints on the ground and could see that there was three sets, including Naoto's

"Did you find her?" Ichigo asked joining him

Toshiro clenched the armband in his hand tightly "No, but I have a bad feeling!" he said as he took off in the direction of the foot prints fallowed by Ichigo, the prints lead them to a large park with a forest in the middle, there were no lights in the park, it was pitch black, but Toshiro didn't care, he ran into the forest wanting to reach Naoto before anything bad could happen to her, he knew that in any other situation, Naoto could take care of herself, but she was vulnerable in her current condition, last time her saw her, she could barely stand up, let alone put up a fight, he heard voices in the distance, he picked up the pace hoping he wasn't going to arrive too late

There was a large lake and he saw Naoto passed out on the grass at the edge of the lake, her clothing and hair was soaked, it was obvious that she had jumped in the water, Toshiro ran to her and checked her pulse, he was relieved to see that she was sleeping peacefully, he picked her up gently as Ichigo arrived

He saw her in Toshiro's arms and noticed how she was soaked; he then noticed the lake behind them and began to laugh "What's so funny!"

"Like Sensei like apprentice! At least she kept her clothing on!" but he stopped laughing when he sensed another presence, but he was surprise to see that he was night shinobi "Who are you and why were you trailing her!"

"My apologies my lord, but I saw the girl exit the bar and knew she was the captain's apprentice, I noticed that she was drunk and heading towards the park, so I was worried that she could get hurt or something else, so I decided to fallowed her and make sure she would be alright, I was thinking about coming and tell you where she was, but I was afraid that if I left her alone, someone would try to take advantage of her, and I knew you would eventually get here" he said bowing his head

Toshiro let out a sigh of relief knowing that Naoto was not in danger "I thank you for keeping an eye on her, you have my personal thanks and gratitude" Toshiro told the man

"Indeed, come see me tomorrow, I will reward you for your vigilance" Ichigo added

"I need no reward my lord, she is young and innocent, I didn't want anything bad to happen to her, that is all, I do not require to be rewarded for doing my duties"

"That is very commendable, but I insist, come see me tomorrow afternoon"

"If you insist my lord" the man said as he bowed his head before disappearing in a poof of smoke

Toshiro held Naoto tightly against him, feeling once again like he had failed her "What if it would have been someone else who had seen her leave?" he thought to himself

"Toshiro, I know you well enough to know that you're already blaming yourself for this, but it wasn't, I was keeping an eye on her and got distracted with something else, so blame me if you must blame someone" Ichigo said trying to make Toshiro feel better

"I will take her to bed, she needs to rest, I will see you tomorrow Ichigo" Toshiro said as he walked away with Naoto in his arms, still sleeping soundly

"Good night Toshiro" Ichigo said as he watched the two of them disappear in the darkness of the forest

At the same time, the resistance had begun surrounding the city by hiding out of sight in the forest, Sasuke was staring at the moon "It's going to be dawn soon, are you guys ready?"

"Yes, my medical supplies are all packed" Sakura said

"I am ready, I am ready to reclaim my life, I am ready to make things right again, I am ready to restore Konoha and the fire nation, this is my second chance, and I am not going to blow it" Naruto said with a burning fire in his eyes, he wasn't going to screw this chance up

"Good, now I just hope that Toshiro and Naoto are ready…"

Back in the city, Toshiro had arrived at their room, he laid Naoto down in her bed and removed her wet clothing, as she was shivering from the cold, he was embarrassed about doing it, but he knew that she would sleep better in her warm and dry nightgown rather then her wet night uniform"She is probably going to be out for hours, she is going to miss the battle, but I think it's better this way… She won't be forced to choose a side, after all she is still a night ninja, at least this way, she can just sleep, if the plan works, then there won't be a need for her to wake up… if it fails, then at least she will be safe here and not branded a traitor with me..." He stared at her sleeping form, she was so peaceful, he ran his fingers in her hair and kissed her forehead "I only wish that… I wasn't losing my god daughter" he said as a tear formed in his eye as he knew once Naruto went back into time, his own relationship with Naoto would be nonexistent, he would either be executed or banished from the fire nation since back then, he was an enemy after all

He got up and walked out of the room, dawn was approaching, soon he would be faced with the ultimate decision, to betray his country, his people, his leader…His best friend, or does he allow hundreds of lives to be slaughtered, including Sakura, and perhaps possibly be hated by Naoto for allowing both her parents to be killed "How can I make such a decision"

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**End Chapter 42  
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I though about having something bad happen to Naoto, but i decided against it, this made me happier, plus i bet you were all expecting something bad to happen to her right ;) anyway, next chapter should be the begining of the battle, i believe i have dragged this out as long as i could :P look forward to 43!! :D


	43. Chapter 43

After taking another day off "took good Friday off" to relax and spent some time with my friends, chapter 43 is finally here! YAY, RAINBOWS PONIES AND PIXY DUST!!... yeah sorry i am just hyper tonight :D

Now, its time for my reviews to shine :D

RairyuuBlade - this one is longer, not by much, but still longer then 42 :P hope you enjoy, thanks for the review

Bombat1994 - It did further the relationship that Toshiro has with Ichigo, but as to move the story forward, yes i agree, it was more of a setting everything up for this chapter type of chapter :) thanks for the review and hope you like 43

Sintar07 - yes, everything working out perfectly with lolypops and sugar sucks :P that's why i hate stories where i see Naruto able to beat the crap out of his enemies with a simple finger... :P whats the point! lol anyway thanks for the review, and hope you like 43 :D

Gravenimage - Thanks for the review, hope you enjoy 43 :)

naru-ca-titan - aww... Pills :( I use to take Ritalin when i was younger, the doctors though i had ADD, but i just didn't care about school :P there is a diference lol, but i remeber how they made me dull, anyway i still love your reviews, whether they are ADD or not ;) keep them coming :D so thanks for your continued support and hope you like 43 :D

Cecixx19 - Thanks for the review, and, actually, no i do NOT have a lot of time on my hands, this is my routine, i get up at 8 AM do my morning routine, go to work from 10 to 6, i go to the gym from 6:15 to 7:15 get home at about 7:30, eat dinner, relax a bit if i have the time, write my story "normally takes me any time between 2-3 hours" go to bed at around 12:30 and start the cycle over again the next day :P until i get to my weekends...god how i love my weekends lol, i could use that evening time for myself, but i enjoy writing this story so much, and you all enjoy reading it so much that i just keep on doing it almost every night :), anyway enough about my boring life :P hope you enjoy 43 :D

Chi-Neko - cliff hangers are what makes you want to come back for more :D thanks for the review, i hope you enjoy 43 :)

blackmoon124 - Indeed, and that was my intention! to make you love the villain :P so i am happy to see that i have succeeded :D thank you for the review, and i hope that you enjoy 43

Well once again, that's everyone, now the moment you have all been waiting for, chapter 43 has been released! The wait is over, today, the attack begins! What did Toshiro decide to do? find out today!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 43  
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Dawn had come and Naruto was getting restless "Why haven't they sent anyone out yet!" he asked

"Calm down, it will take a while before a messenger arrives from the front lines, just be patient" Sasuke told him "Even after they leave, we have to wait a while before we attack, or else they could just turn around" he added

Finally, Naruto could see someone run through the forest "That must be the messenger!" Sakura said

Ichigo had fallen asleep from the long night he had, but a knock to his chamber doors woke him "Kurokage Sama, there is an emergency" a voice came from the other side

Ichigo woke up, his body still feeling heavy and tired; he got out of bed and opened the door "This better be good" he simply said in a sleepy, yet stern voice

"My apologies my lord, I would not wake you if this wasn't urgent, but a messenger from the front lines just arrived, the Sand are launching a full assault, we believe they are trying to reclaim their lost territory"

"What?!" Ichigo screamed out

"What are we going to do my lord? They outnumber our forces" the night ninja added

"How many do we have in reserve here?" Ichigo asked

"We have one thousand ninja's here in the city my lord" he answered

"Damn it! I shouldn't have sent half our forces to reinforce our borders with the earth…" Ichigo said in anger

"My lord, if you don't mind me asking, why did you send them?"

"Because, one of my captains informed me of a major incident happened in earth country that could cause them to attack us, I didn't want to take the chance... How could the Sand pick this time to attack, we don't have any choice, send nine hundred of our men to defend the border, but do not allow them to pursue the sand into their territory, we do not have the numbers needed to attack Suna"

"Are you sure my lord? That would leave us vulnerable to attack"

"This city has four captains, three vice captains and a captains apprentice as well as myself for defence, I doubt any band of bandits would dare try anything, even with only one hundred of us left"

"Yes my lord" he said as he bowed his head and left

Ichigo let out a large sigh as he shut his door, how could the Sand attack at such a perfect time

Meanwhile Toshiro was walking around town, he noticed that a large number of ninja's had begun forming and were getting ready to head out, he knew that the Sand must had begun their attack, he saw Kisuke and his vice captain watching as the large army of night ninja's began their march out of the city, Toshiro joined them "What's going on?" Toshiro asked, even though he already knew the answer

"It would appear that the Sand have decided to attack us" The twelfth division vice captain answered, she was a small blond girl with brown eyes by the name of Sarugaki Hiyori, and at one point was Toshiro's vice captain. Just like Toshiro, she wasn't that tall, but if her enemies would judge her by her size, they would normally end up dead

"It's very bad timing too, we don't have the men needed to crush them" Kisuke added

"What do you mean? Don't we have two thousand ninja's here?" Toshiro asked confused

"No, a few hours ago before the Kurokage went to bed, he said that you informed him of a big incident within earth borders caused by the resistance, he sent half our forces to patrol the borders and reinforce the border towns in case they decided to pursue the resistance members and use the opportunity to attack us"

Toshiro was shocked; the forces in the city would be at an all time low, the resistance would not have many problems assaulting it now since they would outnumber the defenders

"I think it's pretty convenient that they just happen to attack us while our forces are cut in half, leaving us vulnerable" Kisuke added

"This city is fine captain, I mean we have most of the captains and vice captains here, we should be able to protect the city from anything" Hiyori said with a smile "Isn't that right captain Hitsugaya?" said with a wink, both of them had always worked well together, Toshiro was sad when she was asked to transfer due to the twelfth division really needed a good vice captain

"Yeah…" he simply answered feeling horrible

"So, where is that apprentice of yours anyway?" Kisuke asked

"She is…Resting, the Kurokage wanted to get to know her" he answered

"I heard that she was drunk and that you almost lost her, not exactly how an apprentice should behave" Kisuke added

"And what is that suppose to mean, Captain Urahara" Toshiro asked with an aggressive tone of voice

"All I am saying is, if my apprentice had the honour of spending time with the Kurokage, she sure as hell wouldn't have gotten drunk and run off for a midnight swim!" he answered back

"And how would you know about that anyway!" Toshiro asked

"Because, the ninja that kept an eye on her to make sure she was safe was part of my division, I just read his report about it; pathetic really, you should teach her how a proper night ninja should present themselves in the presence of our lord"

Toshiro was steaming with anger and Kisuke knew it, he enjoyed making him angry, he was jealous of the treatment Toshiro received from the Kurokage and would do anything to make Toshiro look bad, Hiyori had noticed that the tension in the air had become hostile between the two captains "Captain Urahara, Captain Hitsugaya, should we really be at each other's throats like this? We are all on the same side aren't we?" she said wanting to try and lighten up the mood

Both Kisuke and Toshiro stared at each other's eyes making her feel very uncomfortable, Toshiro had noticed it, he calmed himself down "Believe whatever you want about my apprentice, but I will not change who she is because of your opinion" he said as he turned his back to Kisuke who only gritted his teeth

"One of these days, she will get you in trouble, when that happens, I will take pleasure in seeing you stripped of your rank and position!" he said as he walked away in anger

Toshiro let out a large sigh as Hiyori stayed "Sorry about that sir, he has been in a bad mood lately" she told him

Toshiro turned around to face her "He has been in a bad mood for the past twenty years" he answered making her smile a bit

"Yeah, I guess he always seems like he is in a bad mood" she said trying to hide a slight blush "So what are your plans today sir?" she asked him trying to start up a conversation with him "Maybe we could have some breakfast with your apprentice sir, I wouldn't mind meeting her" She said with a smile

"I doubt that she will be getting up for breakfast, we went to bed late, I also assume that she is going to wake up with a huge headache after last night" he answered her

"Yeah, I guess you're right, well we could always catch something to eat then, I don't know about you but I am getting kind of hungry, and I wouldn't mind some company" she said trying to hide her blush

Toshiro felt bad, he knew that she was trying to be nice "I am sorry, but there is something I must do, perhaps some other time" he answered her, knowing that there would be no other time, not after today

"Oh, well, maybe some other time then…" she said sadly before walking away, making Toshiro felt even sadder then he already was

"Wait, I maybe free this afternoon, we could have some dinner" He told her

"Really? That would be great!" She said smiling

"Alright then, see you tonight" He answered her as she nodded before walking away, even though he knew there would be no afternoon for them, at least she didn't feel sad anymore, he checked the time, it had been a while since they had sent out the reinforcements to the borders, soon the resistance would launch their attack

Naruto was getting tired of waiting "Why can't we just go now! It's been a while since they left" he asked

"Because, we must give them enough time to get as far away as possible before we attack" Sasuke answered him

"You never were good at waiting Naruto" Sakura said teasingly "Don't worry, we are almost done waiting, just a little bit more" she added

They continued to wait, time went by slowly, and every second seemed to feel like it was an hour

Sasuke got up "Alright, I think we waited long enough, it's time" he gave the signal to begin the attack

The resistance members all began to come out of their hiding spots while launching their attack

The guards at the gate could see them coming, he was shocked, and he had never expected the capital city to come under attack "Sound the alarm! Close the gates!" he screamed out. The large massive gates began to slowly shut as one of the men was hitting a large bell continuously, the remaining defenders scrambled to their posts on top of the walls

Ichigo was still sleeping peacefully as a large bang on his door woke him up, he was very upset, it had already been twice this morning, he got up from his bed in a foul mood and opened the door "The city better be on fire, because if it isn't…"

He was cut off by the guard "My lord, we are under attack!" he quickly told him

"What? By who?!" he demanded

"It appears to be the resistance sir, from the looks of it…the ENTIRE resistance, we are outnumbered"

"The resistance here? But how? And why now?" he said as he quickly got dressed and grabbed his blade before running out of his room

Toshiro was standing on top of the walls alongside the other night defenders, he was still wrestling with himself "I can't betray my country, I can't betray my best friend…But what he did all those years ago was wrong! He has to send Naruto back! But at what price? Naoto will grow up without you in her life! But she will have her father! Can you really justify turning your back on your country? Can I really justify turning my back on doing the right thing and allowing all of them to die. How is that any different then turning your back on your own people and killing them? If I turn my back on my people and we succeeded, technically none of them will have died since Naruto would be sent to the past, however if I don't turn my back on them and join them, the resistance members will be killed with no chance of ever coming back…Also I would be forced to fight Sakura, Naoto would never forgive me for allowing her parents to die" he didn't want to make the decision, but the resistance were getting closer with every passing second, he would have to chose, his country and best friend, or the lives of the hundreds of resistance members, including Sakura, as well as risking losing Naoto in the process

Kisuke grinned "They are fools, it's time we finished off the resistance once and for all" He said as he took out his blade and signalled the men to begin the defence. The ninja's began throwing kunais, shurikens and arrows at the incoming resistance assault killing or injuring a few of them, they reached the walls and begun scaling them, the defenders kept killing them easily before they could reach the top

"Damn it, why hasn't Toshiro opened the door yet!" Sasuke said angry at seeing some of his friends die

"I can just my rasengan and blow it up!" Naruto said as he got ready to do it

"NO! The door is made of an alloy that will just absorb your chakara, you would just be wasting your energy" Shikamaru told him

Meanwhile Toshiro was standing next to the main gate, still struggling with himself, but he could hear the cries of the people dying on the other side, a tear rolled down from his eye as he took out his blade and killed the guard near the gate before opening it. Hiyori was standing behind him, she was shocked "Captain?!" she screamed out

"I am…Sorry" was all he could tell her as the gates flew open and the resistance members ran in

"How could you… You were a role model, someone I looked up too… How could you betray us!" she said as tears formed around her eyes, she lifted her blade and got ready to defend herself

Ichigo had arrived just in time to see Toshiro stand alongside the resistance members as they entered through the gate, the defenders had abandoned their posts at the top of the walls and joined Hiyori, both forces were staring at one another, the night ninja's were mostly surprised by Toshiro's betrayal "I knew it, I knew it! You are nothing but a low life back stabbing traitor!" Kisuke screamed out

Ichigo ran to the front of the line "TOSHIRO!" he screamed "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"I am sorry lord Kurokage…But I cannot allow this to continue…" he answered in his calm voice

"Allow WHAT to continue?" he asked

Naruto made his way to the front of the line, shocking everyone from the night, most of all Ichigo "Twenty years ago, you stole everything from me, my friends, my people, my love, my daughter…I am here to take it all back! By force if necessary"

"So you survived…I must have used to much chakara, instead of sending you two months into the future, I sent you twenty years, I had always assumed that your injuries were just too severe and that you had died, I guess I was wrong"

"Kurokage Sama, send him back, I beg of you, he doesn't belong here, he belongs back in his own time, do the right thing!"

"Toshiro, I don't want to hear anything from you, I always knew that you opposed the invasion of these nations, you were also strongly against me using that jutsu on him, however, I never would have imagined that you would turn against me, how could you choose them over me! We are best friends, we grew up together! We were always there for each other, Toshiro, how could you do this to me, I trusted you more than anyone!"

"I am sorry Ichigo…" he said with a sad tone

"You're sorry? YOU'RE SORRY? IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MAKE EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?" He said as he took out his blade

"You are outnumbered, surrender and just send me back" Naruto demanded as he took out a Kunai, he went next to Toshiro "Where is Naoto?" he asked him

"She is…Safe" he simply answered him

"Good" Naruto answered back

"You are kidding right? Send you back? If I send you back, this timeline will cease to exist! The night country's invasion may not succeed, as if I would EVER send you back!" he screamed out

"You will send me back, one way or another… You will" he simply said as his eyes instantly turned red and red chakara began to surround his body

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**End Chapter 43  
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**Well the attack has begun, Toshiro had decided to stay with the resistance, even though he had second thoughs and almost didn't do it, hoped you all liked it, read, rave, review :D


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44 is here! I took Easter Sunday off, sorry :P

Now then, for my reviews

RSfan - I am actually French Canadian, so LA RESISTANCE indeed ;) as for Naoto, maybe :P anyway, thanks for the review and hope you enjoy 44

Gravenimage - Thanks for the review, i hope you like 44 :D

electoraljew2 - x20 -Wow, lots of reviews :P but i love it lol, i will try to answer to them all, no, i suck at fighting, so the fiction is driven by the story behind it, rather then the fighting :P, yes Sasuke was a jackass in the beginning, i assume by the time you read this that you will know how Sasuke turns out ;) , Indeed, KibaxHina was intended :P also noticed that fanfiction posted that review 4 times lol, yes, i am up to date with the manga, it is a crossover fic :P although i will admit that when i began, i had no idea it would be, my intentions were to simply have a small story about Naruto and Sakura bringing Sasuke back home and turning him back to there side, well, my imagination decided to take off, and well...this happened :P, i can't say that i have seen many fics with the same type of contact as mine was, but i mean i have not read that many with contracts, however, i am sorry that you though it was overused, hope it didn't ruin things to much for you, i don't know who the Mizukage is at this current moment, but my story is not 100% Cannon, its cannon up to the second time they try to save Sasuke, yes when i began this story, i was about 10-15 chapters behind lol, yes i have read the newest chapter, can't wait for the next one, and don't be to hard on Yuki ;) She just had a crush on her sensei, like many girls have in other manga's :P anyway, just like Sasuke, by the time you read this, you should have found out about Yuki and not hate her anymore ;) Yes i knew that Jiraiya had died in the manga before i began my story, but since my story is only cannon up to the second attempt to save Sasuke, Jiraiya never went on that mission of his ;) Yes Sakura was captured, but not easily, and they didn't have the chance to use her against Naruto as you now know, anyway i hope thats everything, i may have missed a few things, i hope you keep on reading enough to reach this chapter :P Anyway thanks for the constant reviews and i hope you keep enjoying the story

naru-ca-titan - yeah, i was holding him back until the very last second :P and lol at the bunny :D as always thanks for your review :) and hope you like 44

narusaku305 - Thanks for the review, i don't know what kind of fight this is going to be, i will be the first to admit that i suck at fighting, if i decide to do a sequel "if you guys wish for one" i may make it just about the story, but i don't know yet, i haven't given it much thought so far, but i am interested in making a sequel, anyway i hope you enjoy 44 :D

Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, and yes, i am also a bleach fan, so i am enjoying my own story very much :P anyway hope you like 44

JDog335 - thanks for the review, and thanks for the comment :) hope you like 44

RairyuuBlade - thanks for the review and lol :P i decided to take it easy for the Easter weekend, so i didn't go crazy with updates hehe, hope you like 44 :)

Cecixx19 - Thanks for the review and comment :) hope you like 44

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 44  
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The resistance began their attack on the defenders, the night were outnumbered, but they were not going to give up without fight, the only people who remained still were Sasuke, Itachi, Sakura, Naruto and Toshiro for the resistance, Ichigo, Kisuke, Byakuya and Retsu for the night

"This is your final chance Kurokage, you are outnumbered, you have lost this battle" Sasuke told him

"Funny, I believe you were in the same situation when we attacked Konoha, tell me, did you surrender?"

"No, but remind me, who won that battle?" Sasuke added

"He didn't win! He used a coward's way out and sent me to the future because he could NOT defeat me" Naruto said in anger "Had he not thrown me into the future, he knows that we would have won, why do you think he refuses to send me back?" He added

"Enough of this! Did you come here to fight? Or are you going to talk!" Ichigo said in anger.

Everyone launched their attack against their designated targets

Sasuke was attacking Kisuke with anger "You are going to pay for what you have done!"

"You seem to have a lot of repressed anger towards us" Kisuke said as there blades clashed together

"I hate all night ninja's, but you hold a special place in my heart!" he said in anger as the two continued to fight

"Oh? And what have I done to win such an honour?" Kisuke asked as he ducked away from an attack

"You killed one of my close friends!" Sasuke told him

"Really? Well can you be specific, I killed plenty of you resistance scum" Kisuke answered back while he swung his blade at Sasuke who dodged it

"five years ago, he was leading a group of resistance members, he attacked one of your convoys, his only goal was to take the food without harming any of the merchants, but we had no idea that you and your division would be there escorting them, when he realized that he was not attacking a simple food caravan, he ordered the retreat, but you pursued him! He stayed behind to give the rest of his team the time they needed to get away!" Sasuke said as the two were locked together pushing against each other's blades

"Ah yes, I remember him, the wood type ninja wasn't it? He was a great challenge, but eventually, he fell, like so many others, I predict the same future for you!" he said as he kicked Sasuke forcing him to jump back

At the same time, Sakura had begun her own attack against Retsu, the fourth division captain, She was using her Kunai to strike at Retsu's blade, using her chakara to make the blows more powerful, Sakura was a bit surprise, it seemed too easy "I knew that you were a medical ninja and not a combat type, but I figured that a captain would be tougher then this…" Sakura told her

"I have no desires for combat, however, you won't be able to defeat me either, in my entire time as a captain, I have never won, nor have I ever lost a battle, I am a medical Nin, I pride myself on how many lives I have saved" She simply answered her

"That is something I can truly respect, I am also a medical Nin, however I also have fighting skills, my team knows that they can depend on me in any situation, whether it's to save their lives, or fight alongside them" she said as she kicked Retsu in the stomach forcing her to take a few steps back

"Do not get me wrong, I have fighting skills as well, however, I do not feel the need to use them to cause pain to the others, I leave that to the others, and since I do not care about inflicting pain, I can concentrate on me defence, no one has been able to defeat me, ever" she answered back as she blocked another attack from Sakura

"That's because you never faced me before!" She said as she took out an extra Kunai and thrust it into Retsu's arm

Toshiro was standing across from Byakuya, the sixth division captain stared into the tenth division captain's eyes "Toshiro, I don't understand! You were the most loyal one of us!"

"Sorry Byakuya, I didn't want to do it, but it's the right thing to do, I only wish you could see that" Toshiro said sadly

"What is so bad about what happened twenty years ago? I seem to remember you celebrating with all of us when we defeated Konoha!"

"I was a kid fallowing orders! Hell I wasn't even a teenager! I had twenty years to think about that night, I had twenty years to think about what we did to their people! And now I have a chance to undo some of it, Byakuya, can't you see that we don't belong here!"

"Just because you do not agree with what our lord has decided, doesn't give you the right to betray him! How can you stand there and call yourself a night shinobi! I won't allow you and your band of renegades to destroy what we fought hard for" he said while taking out his blade

"I was hoping that it wouldn't come down to this Byakuya, I thought you of all the captains would understand me, I know for a fact that you were also against this invasion"

"Yes I was, but like I already said, it doesn't give me the right to betray my country, I would do anything the Kurokage asked me to do, like a true night shinobi"

"Then you are a fool Byakuya, fallowing orders blindly without questioning them, only because they are given to you by the Kurokage is wrong, I love my country, I love my friends, Ichigo has been my best friend since birth, but I cannot fallow him right now, I refuse to kill innocent people just because he told me to!" Toshiro said as he took out his blade "Byakuya, whether you want to or not, things are going to change!"

"You think that our lord is just going to send him back? He would rather die!" Byakuya said in anger as he charged at Toshiro, both their blades clashing together

"You are underestimating these people Byakuya!" Toshiro said as he pushed his blade against Byakuya's blade

Itachi and Naruto were still standing in front of Ichigo, the red chakara still radiating from his body "So, it's two against one huh? Can't say that I blame you really, I would be afraid of facing me alone as well if I were you" Ichigo said with a laugh

"Your taunting is useless, we are not here to fight you, we are here to force you to send him back" Itachi simply answered back

"Of course, because we all know that your pathetic excuse for a Hokage cannot beat me" Ichigo said as his grin grew wider

"Itachi, I want you to stand by, I will beat him within an inch of his life, and once I am done with him, then you can use your Sharingan on him" Naruto said in anger

"Hokage Sama, don't you see that this is what he wants? He is trying to provoke you, and he is succeeding, don't play his game, we are not here to do battle with him, remember that!"

"You're talking as if I cannot defeat him Itachi, I beat him twenty years ago, and I can do it again!" Naruto answered back

"But he has become more powerful since then, think about it, during the past twenty years, he has had time to train and gain new abilities, you're powers on the other hand have not changed since you last fought him!"

"When we last fought, I barely unleashed my full power, truth is, my powers were still new to me, I will admit that I have yet to unleash my full potential, but I know that I can beat him!"

"Hokage Sama, don't allow pride to blind you from our goal!"

"I know our goal all too well, once I return to my time, I will return with all my injuries, he will already be drained of almost all his chakara, I won't have a chance to beat him into submission like this again" Naruto added

"It doesn't matter! This will have never have happened, and it's not like you're going to remember any of it anyway!"

"I don't care! I am asking you to just allow me to have this one battle, allow me to vent out my frustrations, I know that in the end it is meaningless, but for now, it has meaning to me"

"As you wish Hokage Sama" Itachi finally said bowing his head "I just hope this isn't a mistake…" he whispered to himself

"Are you done talking? I was beginning to get bored here" Ichigo said with a smug smile

"Well, you now have my undivided attention, but you will have to excuse me if I finish this quickly, but I do not have any time to waste with you" he said as he began concentrating his chakara, the red aura around his body intensified as multiple tails began to form until there were four

"I see, well then, my turn, BAN-KAI" he said as he is transformed into his ban-kai form

Naruto wasted no time in attacking him, and to the Kurokage's surprise, he disappeared from his sight, he felt something hit him in the stomach, but he couldn't see it, and once again something pierced his right leg as blood began to spill out, however Ichigo could not even sense him "How can this be, he is so fast that I am not even able to see or sense his chakara, I guess he wasn't bluffing, its time I show him some new tricks of mine then" he thought to himself, he began concentrating his chakara, using his hand to pass from one side of his head to the other, revealing a mask of some sort, his eyes had become yellow and black

Naruto attacked him with his Kunai going for the arm holding the Katana, but Ichigo stopped it with his other hand, grabbing it without injuring himself, Naruto was surprised, they stared at each other "What's wrong, you look surprised" Ichigo said grinning from behind his mask

The large explosions from within the city were loud enough to wake up a sleeping Naoto, her eyes slowly open as her head felt like it was full of led, and being continuously pounded on by a large hammer "Owe, my head…" she said as she tried to massage her temples to relieve some of the pain "What happened last night?... I don't remember anything" she simply said as she stumbled out of bed, she reached for her bag and searched for her medical kit, she opened it and took out a few pills and swallowed them quickly, her hair was a wreck, her eyes were full of visible blood vessels, she forced her body to the bathroom and began splashing her face with cold water, she looked at herself in the mirror "I look horrible… I think I could use a few more hours of rest" she told herself "I hope I didn't do anything…Stupid last night" she said trying to remember her actions "I need to get some liquids and food in my system to help get over this hangover" she walked pass her night uniform and noticed that they were still wet from the night before "What the hell did I do last night?!" she asked herself as she put the clothing back so it could continue to dry

She let out a large sigh as she poured herself a cup of water and quickly drank it up; she felt the entire building shook as well as an explosion that made her head spin "Maybe I shouldn't drink that much anymore, It feels almost like an attack…An attack? Why do I have the feeling that I am forgetting something" she asked herself as her headache came back with a vengeance, she opened the cupboards, she didn't know what kind of food she would find since this wasn't her house, she was happy to find a cup of instant ramen "Mom would kill me if she saw me eat this for a breakfast, but I need to eat something and fast, it won't make the hangover go away, but it will help make the pain more bearable" she said as she opened the seal on the sup and began pouring water inside before heating up the mixture, after a few minutes she smelled the cup "this smells heavenly" she thought to herself as she broke apart chopsticks and began eating her favorite food

Once again the entire building shook as a few things fell to the ground "Wait a minute, this isn't just my head pounding…Wait the attack! That's right, the resistance is attacking" she quickly ran for her clothing and changed into them, even though they were still slightly wet, she tied on her headband and picked up her blade before running out from her room

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**End Chapter 44  
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	45. Chapter 45

After a few days of a writers block, i have returned with chapter 45, as a reward for waiting, its larger then the other chapters "not the largest, but larger then the regular ones :P"

Now then, for my reviewers :)

Gravenimage - thanks for the review, hope you like 45

Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, yeah, i had fun doing the Naoto hangover scene :) hope you like 45

naru-ca-titan - wow , you have a busy week "well had by now :P" no worries, i was stuck with a writers block anyway, took me a few days to break out of it, and your studies are more important :D i hope you did good on them, also hope you had fun at six flags, i wish i could go to six flags one day, or Disney land, or any large theme park really lol, the largest one we have here is called Magic Mountain and its a water theme park, its very small, but very fun :D anyway thanks for the review, looking forward to your return tomorrow, and i hope you like 45 :)

blackmoon124 - the answers to most, if not all your questions are answered here in chapter 45, thanks for the review, and hope you enjoy 45

RSfan - time travel can be viewed in many ways, i chose that he would not remember anything because it makes it more interesting, i don't want to send Naruto back with an advantage, or else its boring, sending him back this way insures that he can simply pick up where he left off, but thanks for the review, and hope you like 45

xzavx - x2 - thanks for the reviews, and you get the answer in this chapter ;) hope you like 45 :D

-OO-Infinity-OO- - Yay, an other new reviewer :) thanks for the update, and thank you very much for the compliments, 45 has arrived and i apologize for the wait, hope you like ;)

RairyuuBlade - thanks for the review, indeed, i suck at the fight scenes, hence why i had a writers block that took a few days for me to post this chapter, and i still think the fights sucked :P but i hope you enjoy 45

That's everyone, alright, chapter 45 is here, as i already stated, the battle scenes are what caused me to block here, and i am going to warn you right now, most of them are short and suck :P but it was that, or i waited god knows how long for me to figure out a way to make 45 work, so i chose to just continue telling the story rather then worry about the fight scene, hope you guys keep reading though, thanks, anyway, enough talking from me, CHAPTER 45 IS HERE!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 45  
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Sasuke and Kisuke Were battling it out, but neither one was getting the upper hand in their battle, Sasuke was panting slightly, as was Kisuke "He is stronger than I thought, I can see how Yamato could have lost against him" Sasuke thought to himself

"He isn't bad at all, I didn't know the resistance had such strong ninja's in their ranks" Kisuke thought to himself as he began to catch his breath

Sasuke began making hand signs, his blade began to glow brightly as Kisuke grinned "The famous Chidori sword strike huh?" he simply said "Don't you resistance members come up with new moves?" he added

Sasuke paid no attention to him as he began to run towards him, Kisuke got ready to block the attack with his own blade, he was confident that he would have no problem blocking or deflecting the strike "CHIDORI…" he screamed out as his blade collided with Kisuke's blade "DOUBLE STRIKE!" he continued to shout out as he brought his hand from behind him, fully charged in the Chidori as he thrust it into Kisuke's stomach

Kisuke felt the throbbing pain caused by Sasuke's attack; blood began pouring out from the wound, Sasuke continued to try and push through but Kisuke used his free hand to grab his arm and tried to pull it out, however, he did not have the strength, his vision was becoming blurry, but he wasn't about to give up, as a night captain, he would fight until death, he began to concentrate on all of his remaining chakara "Way of destruction, Armageddon blast…"

Sasuke could feel a surge of power coming from Kisuke's body, he wanted to get away but Kisuke would not let go of his arm, he tried to kick him, but he wouldn't let go

"I underestimated you, however, I refuse to lose, if I must die, then I am taking you with me" he said with a grin

"If you want to die, then FINE, but do it WITHOUT ME" Sasuke said as continued to try and loosen Kisuke's grip on his arm "How can he still have the strength to hold me here" he thought to himself as he desperately continued to struggle to get away

Kisuke simply smiled "Good bye, Uchiha Sasuke" he simply said before a large explosion emanating from Kisuke's own body enveloped the both of them

Sakura sensed the explosion, she knew it came from Sasuke's direction, and she was worried since she had a bad feeling, Retsu had not moved, blood was still dripping from the wound Sakura had inflicted on her arm, she took the opportunity of Sakura's distraction to attack, Sakura's attention quickly came back to the battle as she blocks the attack with her Kunais, she then kicks Retsu forcing her to take a few steps back, Retsu quickly dropped down and swirled her leg around, Sakura tried to avoid it, but she was too fast, the leg sweep caused her to fall down on her back, but she used the backward momentum to continue rolling and she was back on her feet, Retsu however had already begun her next attack, her blade swung and hit the back of Sakura's legs

Sakura felt the pain, but she also could no longer feel her legs as she fell down to the ground, Retsu put away her blade and turned her back to Sakura as she walked away

"Where are you going?!" Sakura shouted out in anger

"I have cut the tendons in both your legs, you will not be able to stand for some time" she said as she continued to walk away

"Come back here! I am not finished, you haven't won!" Sakura screamed out

"Of course not, I told you, I have never won a battle, you are incapacitated, my fellow countrymen will either finish you or capture you, either way, your fight with me is over"

Sakura was gritting her teeth in anger, not because Retsu thought she had beaten her, but at the arrogance "**WHO DOES SHE THINK WE ARE?**" Inner Sakura screamed out, Sakura slowly got back to her feet; Retsu suddenly stopped walking away and turned around

"But how… I know I didn't miss your tendons!" Retsu said surprised

"My name is Haruno Sakura, apprentice to the medical specialist and fifth Hokage of Konoha Tsunade, one of Konoha's top medical Nins, you insult me underestimating my powers, repairing torn tendons is child's play! You are going to have to fight me seriously, I am not just some grunt ninja, and your medical tricks won't work on me!" Sakura said with a grin

"I see, I have to admit, you are the first medical ninja that I have fought alone, I guess my tactics won't work against someone like you, very well Haruno Sakura, you shall be my first and final victory" Retsu said as she took out her blade, but she felt a sharp pain in her back, Sakura was grinning, Retsu quickly turned around and saw another Sakura standing with a bloodied Kunai

"Don't underestimate me…Unlike you, I am not only a medical ninja" the other Sakura launched an attack and Retsu was forced to fight them both at once

The wound on her back had not hit any major organs, but she could feel the warmth of the blood dripping out, she had to heal it right away, but Sakura wasn't going to give her the time she needed, she was feeling her body getting slightly weaker and her moves sluggish, her own blade was starting to feel heavy

Sakura struck her once, twice, three times with her kunai, but what made it worst was that she was also using chakara to make herself faster as well as her hits more powerful. Retsu was panting heavily, her once white captains cloak was mostly red with blood "How can you, a medical ninja be so strong…" she asked

"Because, I fight to protect my loved ones…Who are you fighting for? Your leader?" Sakura asked "And if you are fighting for him, do you believe in him?"

"I fight for my country, and of course I believe in Kurokage Sama" Retsu said as she felt her body getting weaker from the lost of blood, she dropped her arm holding her blade, using it as a crutch

"Toshiro use to fight for the same reasons as you, only for loyalty and country, but deep down, he always knew that it wasn't right, invading entire countries, killing thousands, when will it end? When you control the entire continent?"

Retsu's vision was getting blurry as she desperately tried to stay awake "I am a night ninja, a weapon, I am loyal to my country…Haruno Sakura, you are strong, I guess you are my first lost after all" she said as she fell to the ground passing out from the lack of blood

Sakura walked up to her and bent down "We ninja's are not weapons… We are people, there was a time when we also thought the same way you do… But thanks to people like Naruto, we refuse to become simple weapon for killing" she knew that Retsu could no longer hear her, but she felt that she still had to say it, she sighed as she began healing her wounds "And you don't need to die just because we are enemies…"

Toshiro and Byakuya were still at each other's throats, however, both of them were having a hard time fighting each other, they had been friends for over twenty years, they had both been captains for just as long, they had fought side by side, and now they were fighting each other

"Toshiro, stop this nonsense, surrender and beg the Kurokage for forgiveness! I am sure he would spare your life" Byakuya shouted out

"Sorry Byakuya, but I can't do that" he said as his blade came crashing down on Byakuya's

"Then you leave me no choice, I have to stop this resistance invasion, I am sorry Toshiro, but this ends here, BAN-KAI!" Byakuya shouted out, his blade began glowing bright pink as it exploded into pedals, suddenly the entire area around them was surrounded by thousands of pink blades "I am sorry Toshiro that It had to come to this, but you leave me no choice" he gave the blades the signal to attack, all of them in unison began to fly towards Toshiro

"BAN-KAI!" Toshiro shouted out, the blades reached him, one by one they reached their target, creating a large dust cloud, the blades were relentless, thousands of them flying at Toshiro, Byakuya had a sad face, he ordered his blades to stop and cancelled his ban-kai "Toshiro, although you were a traitor, you had the respect and admiration of the entire night army as well as mine" he put his blade away as the dust began to clear, he had a tear of sadness knowing that he had killed one of the most loved captains in the entire night country

The dust had all but cleared, Byakuya could see something through the dust, he couldn't believe his eyes, two large wings of ice had shielded Toshiro, he had escaped with nothing more than a few cuts and scrapes, Byakuya quickly took his blade back out as Toshiro's wings opened up revealing the unharmed tenth division captain, his blade had turned to ice as he began slowly walking towards Byakuya, his face was devoid of any emotions

"No one has ever survived my ban-kai… He truly is the strongest captain in all of the night country" he thought to himself

Toshiro attacked, Byakuya used his blade to block the attack, but he was horrified as once the blades collided, it began to freeze quickly, Byakuya jumped back wanting to create some distance between them before the ice could reach his hands, he took a look at his blade encased in the ice "Your ban-kai truly is the most powerful ban-kai in the country, you were able to survive my attack without any major injuries, and all of your attacks will slowly turn me to ice"

"You can end this Byakuya, just give up now" Toshiro asked him

Byakuya smiled at him "You always try to act tough, yet you always had a heart Toshiro, even for your enemies, even though you kept a serious face, you would always mourn for them after you defeated them, but I am sorry Toshiro, as much as I would like to not fight you, you know that I cannot surrender, I would not be able to live with myself, I cannot fallow you on your path my friend, I am not as strong as you" he answered him as he suddenly attacked Toshiro

Toshiro blocked the attack with ease, the ice continued to form on Byakuya's blade with each strike, the ice eventually reached Byakuya's hand and begun to slowly creep up his arm, but he didn't seem to care, Toshiro continued to strike as the ice made its way to Byakuya's body, the ice was starting to feel heavy, Toshiro used this opportunity to strike as many parts of Byakuya's body as he could, instead of cutting or inflicting wounds, wherever his blade struck would turn to ice, it came to a point where most of Byakuya's body was encased in a cocoon of ice and unable to move

"It would appear that you have won" Byakuya said as he was mostly immobile

"You didn't even try to fight back, you knew that striking at me would cause the ice to progress, you didn't even use any of your destruction arts to try and hit me from a distance, and it was as if you had no intention of winning this battle… Although I am the strongest of the captains, you should still have been able to hold your own against me as a fellow captain"

Byakuya simply smiled at the remark "My heart just wasn't into it" he simply answered back "Do you truly believe that you can win against Kurokage Sama and return that boy to his rightful time?" he asked him

"I have not known the Hokage for long, but Sakura has told me about him, she told me that he will stop at nothing to protect what is important to him, I believe that he would do anything to return to his time and save his people"

"What about us? If he returns, we might all be killed"

"If we are all killed, then that is how it should have happened twenty years ago, I have no regrets" Toshiro answered, he then began to walk away as the large wings of ice disappeared once Toshiro had cancelled his ban-kai, Byakuya was defeated, and there was no point in killing him

"Getsuga Tensho!" A Large black wave of energy heads directly for Naruto, he attempts to dodge it "Getsuga Tensho, Getsuga Tensho, Getsuga Tensho!" three addition waves are heading towards him

"Rasenshuriken!" Naruto screamed out, two large white swirling ball of chakara began to swirl in both his hands, they expanded and began to take the forms of a shuriken, Naruto threw them both, they collided with the incoming waves of pure black energy, resulting in an explosion that was even larger then in their original battle, destroying a large chunk of the city, Itachi was forced to run for cover or risk getting caught in the blast

However Naruto and Ichigo were not bothered by the explosion, they had already locked weapons as they attacked each other, fires raging around them, but the pure hatred they felt for each other was stronger than the scorching heat from the flames.

"GIVE ME BACK MY LIFE!" Naruto demanded

"JUST DIE!" Ichigo answered back

The fierce battle continued as Itachi slowly crawled out from his cover, Naoto jumped down from one of the buildings "What's going on!" she asked him

"Your father and the Kurokage are locked in one of the biggest battles I have ever seen" he simply said as they both stared at the two men, Naoto couldn't believe how powerful her father was, the stories that her mother had told her about him were true "But we don't need to fight anymore!" She told him

"What are you talking about?" Itachi asked her

"The Kurokage was ready to forgive the resistance, he was ready to allow them to live in peace, he wanted to put an end to the bloodshed"

"But it still wouldn't have done anything for Naruto, I know that the resistance used the fact that we have been living like thieves for the past twenty years as our reason for doing this, but all of us who were alive back when your father was our leader, we wanted to send him back, your father had sacrificed so much in his life, specially as a child, he deserved the life he was about to get, and we want him to have it" Itachi answered her

"But, if we can just get along with the night country, then he can still get that life back can't he?"

"You don't understand, things between him and your mother would never be the same, things between you and your father would never be as it should, the people who died after he was sent here would never be by his side again, Konoha would still be gone and the fire occupied by the night, no, this is the only way"

"I don't agree with you! The night isn't as bad as everyone thinks it is… Things are changing, including the way the Kurokage thinks, he isn't the monster that everyone in the resistance pegs him to be!" she said remembering the night she had just spent with both Toshiro and Ichigo "I am going to stop this" she said as she jumped away

"What? You can't, WAIT!" Itachi said as he tried to go after her, but a new explosion sent him flying and hitting his head hard against one of the buildings knocking him out

"FATHER! KUROKAGE SAMA! STOP THIS!" Naoto screamed out

"Naoto?" Naruto said surprised

"Father?" Ichigo asked confused

"Please stop this! Father, the Kurokage is ready to forgive the resistance and allow them to live peacefully! There is no need for this battle! Kurokage Sama, tell him!"

"You're his daughter?" The Kurokage asked her

Naoto nodded, she used her sleeves to wipe away the makeup on her face revealing the same marks on her face as Naruto's

Ichigo was shocked, she stared at them both "How could I have missed it… Other than your pink hair you look almost just like him…"

"Tell him Kurokage Sama that this battle is not needed!" Naoto cried out

"I would tell him, but I have a feeling that it wouldn't be enough for him, he wants to go back into the past and take everything away from us" Ichigo said coldly

"Take everything away from you? WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU TOOK AWAY FROM ME!" Naruto said in anger, the red aura only intensified

"Naoto, get out of here, I don't want you to get hurt" Ichigo told her

"Why would you care about her safety now that you know she is my daughter?" Naruto asked him

"I don't care who her parents are, she is still a Night ninja under my command, and thus my responsibility, for as long as she wears that headband and that uniform, I will protect her!" Ichigo answered him

Naruto was in shock, was he being serious? No, it had to be a trick, this man was evil, he had taken everything away from him and had no remorse about it, he had to pay, Naruto launched an attack on Ichigo, in his hand a white ball of energy was beginning to form "Futon Rasengan" he screamed out, Ichigo was getting ready to block it

Naoto quickly jumped in the way and got in between the two of them, Naruto was going too fast to stop, instead of hitting Ichigo, his rasengan hit Naoto's chest, the wind rasengan burnt through her clothing and pierced her chest, Naoto dropped her blade and began coughing out blood, but she did not scream in pain, instead she smiled at her father

"NAOTO!" he screamed as he removed his hand from her chest and held her tightly "WHY NAOTO!"

"The hatred has to stop father… I am sorry, but it was the only way to stop you since words were not working" Naoto answered him with blood dripping from her mouth, her eyes were starting to shut

Naruto was shaking her trying to keep her awake "NO!! NO!! YOU CAN'T DIE!! NAOTO!!" he cried and held her tightly "SAKURA WHERE ARE YOU!! NAOTO NEEDS YOU!!" he continued to scream out, feeling powerless

"Father, it's alright, I am a ninja and have always been ready to die, but you cannot allow hatred to control your life" her eyes were now completely shut as her body had become numb, Naruto could feel her heart beat stop

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" he screamed out as he rocked her back and forth, tears flowing from his blood red eyes as he kissed her forehead

"You know, this is your fault, if you wouldn't have been selfish, then perhaps she would not have had to die, but the question is, are you going to allow her death to be in vain, or are you going to listen to her words, she died trying to tell you to let go of this hatred, even after everything you and your people have done here, I am STILL ready to allow you to live in peace"

"Shut up…" Naruto simply told him

"What?" Ichigo asked him

"Don't start to talk to me about being selfish, the only reason you won't send me back willingly is because you don't want to lose your mighty empire" he simply said as he gently laid her down "I can't lose her, there is no way I can live without her, that's why you are going to send me back, there is nothing you can tell me to convince me otherwise, you can either send me back and make things right, or we continue this fight" he said as he picked up Naoto's blade, the red aura around his body and the four tails only intensified as a new surge of power ran throughout his body

"You know my answer to that; I will NEVER send you back"

"We shall see about that…" Naruto's eyes had somehow changed, they were still red but they were different somehow, they were the eyes of someone who no longer had anything to lose "I am sorry Naoto; I know that you wanted to stop our fighting, but... I can't allow you to die"

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**End Chapter 45  
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I know, i really suck at fighting scenes, that is why it took so long to get this chapter out, my writers block was because i was trying to make the fighting scenes decent, but i am just not able to do it, i can only hope that the story is enough to keep your interest :), once again, i must apologize for my lack of fighting scene skills


	46. Chapter 46

Alright, i come bearing gifts! but first, my beloved reviewers :D

Gravenimage - well i am happy to say that it did not take me long to post this update ;) so thanks for the review and hope you like 46

JDog335 - Thanks for the review, 4 tails is his maximum, his body would not be able to survive any more power, i believe i said something about that when he made the deal :) anyway hope you like 46

crsstlk - ah yes, i was wondering where you had gone, its all good, we all get busy ;) i am just happy to know your still reading :D and i hope your still enjoying the story, so thanks for the review, and hope you like 46

RSfan - well thanks, i am always afraid that my battle scene will come out short or too rushed, but if they are alright, then i am happy :) thanks for the review and hope you like 46

Chi-Neko - And i enjoy ending my stories like that ;) Thanks for the review, hope you like 46 :D

RairyuuBlade - thanks, and wow, i knew people liked my story, but i had no idea that it was almost as good a storyline as the cannon stuff, but i feel really happy knowing that people are getting really into the story :) so thank you very much for the review, and i hope you enjoy 46

xzavx - Thank you for you continued support and reviews :) i hope you enjoy 46

blackmoon124 - thanks for the review, yeah, the plot is coming together nicely, sadly though, this story is coming to an end soon, i don't know how many chapters are left, but it is coming to an end :( however, i may make a sequel if you guys want me, who knows :P, well i hope you like 46

naru-ca-titan - yay your back! I hope you did good on your tests, i also hope you had fun at six flags :D yes, i killed Naoto, it was hard for me to do, because i really love Naoto's character, but it had to be done, also, i had a feeling that some people may have known that she would be killed in the story, however, i knew NO ONE would have expected her to die by Naruto's hand, that was a twist that i very much enjoyed seeing people review about ;) anyway thank you so much for your continued support and reviews, hope you enjoy 46

Sintar07 - Indeed, Naruto has almost lost everything he holds dear, remind you of someone? ;) Sasuke lost his entire family and loved ones, Naruto never had anyone to lose in the first place until began forging his bonds, that were all taken away from him by Ichigo, if he is unable to return to the past, who knows what kind of person he would turn into after this battle, if he were to survive it, anyway thanks for the review and i hope you enjoy 46

Well then, now that i have responded to my loyal reviewers, its time for chapter 46!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 46  
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Itachi woke up, his head was still hurting from being slammed into the building, he slowly got back to his feet feeling slightly dizzy, he was looking around and saw that the resistance had just about won the battle, Konohamaru ran up to him "Itachi, are you alright?" the young ninja asked him

"Yeah, I should be fine" he said while rubbing the back of his head

Sakura had spotted them and ran towards them "Itachi, what's going on, I thought you were suppose to be with Naruto to fight the Kurokage" she asked him

"That was the plan, but Hokage Sama decided he wanted to beat him on his own first"

"Itachi, I have some horrible news for you…" Sakura told him with a sad tone "During my battle with the medical captain, I heard a large explosion coming from Sasuke's location, once I was done my fight, I went to investigate, I found him dead, most of his body was burnt, he must have died instantly, one of our ninja's who witnessed the battle said that the captain he was fighting lost the battle, and in a final desperation move, he blew himself up while holding onto Sasuke"

Itachi couldn't believe it, his little brother had been defeated? A tear was starting to form, Konohamaru had never seen Itachi show any kind of emotion, other than the occasional smile or grin, but he had never seen the older ninja shed a single tear "He died fighting for his people…" he finally said

Screams of anger and the sounds of blades clashing together captured their attention; they turned around to see Naruto fighting ferociously, his attacks were relentless, his sword strikes were so fast that Ichigo did not have the time to counter attack, even in ban-kai mode, all three of them were in awe at Naruto's attacks "Hey, isn't that Naoto's blade?" Sakura asked wondering when did Naruto got a hold of it

Suddenly Itachi remembered trying to stop Naoto from getting in the way of the fight, he began to run towards the location where Naruto and Ichigo were fighting when he was knocked out, Sakura and Konohamaru fallowed him, not knowing his reasons for suddenly taking off, Itachi was the first to see Naoto's motionless body, but it didn't take long for Sakura and Konohamaru to see what Itachi was looking at

Sakura began to run towards her daughter, tears running down her face hoping that she was just knocked out, but she could see the large amount of blood from her chest even from a distance, Itachi and Konohamaru ran after her, once she reached Naoto, it didn't take long for her to realize that her fear was confirmed, Naoto was not breathing and had no heartbeat, Sakura held her tightly as she began to cry "WHY! WHY DID MY BABY HAVE TO DIE!"

Konohamaru and Itachi felt horrible, they both knew that Naoto was the only reason Sakura had not given up on life twenty years ago. Toshiro hearing Sakura's cries quickly ran up to them, once he saw Naoto's bloody body in Sakura's arms, he knew that she was no longer of this world, for the first time since his parents had been killed, he began to cry uncontrollably as he joined Sakura and held both of them

"Why did she have to die Toshiro? Why? She was an innocent, she had done nothing wrong, tell me, why did she have to pay for our war?" she cried at him

"Sakura…I am so sorry, this is my fault, I have failed her yet again, I was suppose to keep her safe" he said as he cried with her

"It's all that Kurokage's fault!" she said as her sadness turned into anger "He must have done this to her! Toshiro, I want him dead…"

"Sakura, I know how you feel, I never thought that Ichigo could do something like this, he was my best friend and I thought I knew him better than this, if that was an option open to us, I would kill him myself, but you know that we need him, Naoto still has one last chance, and we need Ichigo"

"No…That's not true, twenty five years ago; I saw a medical ninja bring back someone from the dead… I have since learned that technique, I could use it on Naoto"

"Wait a second Sakura; are you referring to when Chiyo saved Gaara's life?" Itachi asked her

"Yes, how did you know about that?" she asked him

"It was the Akatsuki who took his life away… Once we found out he was alive again, we did an investigation and found the truth, but you cannot be thinking of using that technique!"

"And why not!" Sakura demanded

"Because, you are exchanging your life for hers!" Itachi answered her

"So what? Do you think I can go on living with her dead?"

"Sakura, once Naruto goes back to his time she will be unharmed" Toshiro told her

"I don't care, I want my little girl back now…" she said crying

"I know, but we have to trust in Naruto, you know him better than any of us, he will make sure to defeat Ichigo and return to the past where Naoto will be born once again, but this time, with both her parents" he said with a warm smile trying to comfort her

A large explosion caught their attention, Ichigo had been sent through multiple buildings

Ichigo got back to his feet as his wounds were beginning to show "What power… I cannot find any openings, it's almost as if he was possessed" he thought to himself as he stood up, but he didn't have the time to catch his breath, Naruto came flying in, Ichigo barely had the time to bring his blade up to protect himself, Naruto swung his blade with fury and power, multiple strikes that Ichigo was able to block, but just barely, even Ichigo's speed was no match for Naruto's power

"IF YOU DON'T SEND ME BACK NOW, YOU WILL DIE!" Naruto said in anger

"I WOULD RATHER DIE THEN SURRENDER TO YOU!" Ichigo answered back "KILLING ME GETS YOU NOTHING! YOUR DAUGHTER WILL STILL BE DEAD AND THE NIGHT WILL EVENTUALLY CRUSH YOUR RESISTANCE!" he added as he tried to mount an attack on Naruto who had lowered his blade finally giving Ichigo the opening that he was desperately searching for, his blade was aimed at Naruto's neck, he wanted to end the battle with one swift attack

Naruto didn't even try to raise his blade, instead he simply grabbed Ichigo's blade with his free hand, Ichigo tried to push as hard as he could and slice right threw, some blood was coming out of Naruto's hand but Ichigo was not able chop it off, Naruto raised his head and stared into Ichigo's eyes, his blood red eyes were burning with hatred, while Ichigo's yellow and black eyes were filled with fear, Naruto used his head to hit Ichigo's forehead, shattering the white mask into pieces, a bit of blood began to drip from Naruto's forehead, but it was healed quickly by the foxes powers, Ichigo's eyes returned to normal as his powers got weaker, Naruto then swung his blade at Ichigo's neck, Ichigo shut his eyes, expecting the blade to slice his head off, he felt the blade puncture his skin, but it had suddenly stopped

Naruto had the blade at Ichigo's neck and held it there as some blood dripped from the minor cut

"You have lost Kurokage, your captains have been defeated, your men have been killed or have surrendered, and I hold your life in the palm of my hand, I demand you send me back to my time" Ichigo began to laugh "What do you find so funny?" Naruto asked him

"You" Ichigo said with a grin "You know, you really had me going, I really thought that you were going to kill me, but you're not going to, how could you kill me? I am the only one who can send you back to your time, no matter how tough you try to act, that fact will never change, I refuse to send you back, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it!" he said as his laughter got louder

"You really think so? ITACHI!"

Itachi suddenly appeared by Naruto's side "Yes Hokage Sama?"

"He thinks that there is nothing that we can do to make him send me back…Please show him otherwise"

"It would be my pleasure Hokage Sama" he said as he stared into Ichigo's eyes "Mangekyo Sharingan" Itachi shouted as his eyes turned to the famous and feared Mangekyo style of the Sharingan

Itachi found himself standing on the side of a building, yet he was not falling, even though he wasn't using any chakara to stick himself to the building, the building itself was huge, Itachi looked around and saw that it was one of the largest cities that he had ever seen in his life, larger even then Konoha in its prime, he was also confused, he was suppose to be in control, yet he didn't even sense Ichigo anywhere's, he did sense another presence, a man was standing on the top of a pole sticking out from the side of the building, he seemed to be wrapped in a large cape that was flapping in the wind

Itachi began to walk towards the man, wanting to get answers as to where he was, as he approached the man, he could make out that he was wearing lightly tinted sunglasses, his clothing was entirely black, and they seemed to be ripped, just like how Ichigo's are when he is in his ban-kai mode, the man lifted his head and looked at Itachi "Welcome" the man told him

"Who are you?" Itachi asked "You're not Ichigo, and where is this?" Itachi added.

The man smiled at him "My name is Zangetsu, this is Ichigo's mind" said the man

"If this is Ichigo's mind, then where is he?"

"He is somewhere safe, where you cannot reach him" Zangetsu answered

"What are you talking about, no one can escape my Mangekyo" Itachi said surprised, but that's when he realized something "Zangetsu? Isn't that the name of his blade?"

"Yes, I am Ichigo's Zanpakuto"

"But how is that possible, you are nothing more than a sword"

"Really now? I would have thought by now that you would have learned that a Night ninja's Zanpakuto is much more than just his weapon, we all have a soul of our own, we form a bond with our partners, and I will protect him from your psychological attacks, in this world, you do not control anything, I suggest you give up your attack"

"So, what happens if I take you out?" Itachi asked him

"You can try, but in this world, I control everything"

The world suddenly began to shake as the building that Itachi was standing on began to crumble, he began to fall down, he had to act quickly or else he would fall to the ground, and he had no idea what would happen to him, or his mind if he were to die in this world, he quickly jumped on the falling debris, and when he got the chance, he jumped onto the next building where Zangetsu was already standing

"As you can see, you would not have much of a chance fighting me in this world" he said with a smile

Itachi knew that he was not bluffing, he could also tell that Zangetsu was not an evil entity, he could have continued to make the buildings collapse giving Itachi no hope of surviving "I am sorry, but I cannot leave here until my mission if completed" Itachi answered him

"And what is your mission exactly?" Zangetsu asked him

"To make the Kurokage realize that the right thing to do is to send Naruto back to his rightful place in time, you should know that the only thing holding Naruto back from killing the Kurokage right now is the fact that he is the only one who can do that, however, he is gambling his life on the chance that Naruto will not kill him due to the fact that he is the only one who can send him back, Naruto lost his only daughter, there is no telling what he will do if he is denied to be able to see her again" Itachi told him

"I was sadden to see her fall, Ichigo really liked her, though he had no idea she was his daughter, he had high hopes for her, she was his responsibility and he felt horrible to see her die right in front of him" Zangetsu answered him "However, I don't know if he will ever send him back, he is a prideful man"

"If that is the truth, then I fear that he is also a dead man, what do you think Naruto will do if I leave here and tell him, sorry, I wasn't able to do anything? Do you think he would simply let him go and walk away? No, I can assure you that the blade that is currently lodge in the Kurokage's neck will slice completely trough, and you will be left without a partner, can you truly continue to exist knowing that you allowed that to happen?" Itachi asked him with a serious tone

Zangetsu seemed to be thinking "You bring up a good point, I could see the fire of determination in his eyes during his battle with Ichigo, I believe that what you say is true"

"Then help me convince him, you are his partner are you not?"

"Yes I am his partner, and he has been listening to this entire conversation, Ichigo, what do you think about all of this?"

Ichigo suddenly appeared next to Zangetsu "I find this conversation disturbing my friend" he answered him

"Kurokage!" Itachi screamed out "Why can't you see that sending Naruto back is the right thing to do!"

"Because, that would be admitting defeat, and I cannot do that" Ichigo answered

"So you would rather be defeated and die, then admitting defeat and living to continue leading your people?" Itachi asked

"I will die either way, if I refuse to send him back, he kills me, if I return him to the past, he kills me in the past for attacking his village, even though he will have forgotten everything that has happened since he had come to this time, and we will both be weakened, my final attack against him was the last of my chakara, meaning that I would be at his mercy" Ichigo answered him

"You don't know Hokage Sama very well if you are thinking that, he is not the type of person to hold a grudge, nor is he able to hate someone for any long length of time, unless you have hurt someone close to him" Itachi told him

"Really now? That's not what I saw during my fight with him, that look in his eyes…"

"That is because of everything you took away from him, you ripped everything he cared about away from him, his love, seeing his daughter grow up, his friends, his village and country, however if you send him back…He will have forgotten all of that since it never would have happened, trust me when I say that sending him back is the only way that you can survive this, is the occupation of the fire really worth it?" Itachi asked him

Ichigo let out a large sigh "So you want me to put my hopes that he will spare my life twenty years ago"

"It's not like you have much of a choice, refuse, and Naruto kills you where you stand" Itachi told him

"Ichigo, I believe that he speaks the truth" Zangetsu told his partner

"I hate to admit it, but you may be right, Alright Uchiha Itachi, I accept" Ichigo said as he disappeared leaving Itachi alone with Zangetsu

"Tell me one thing, if all night ninja have a connection with their blades, why is it that twenty years ago, my brother was able to reach the mind of that red haired captain?"

"Simple, not every night ninja develops the type of connection with their Zanpakuto as I have with Ichigo, that rookie captain used his Zanpakuto as a weapon, as a tool, but never as a partner, had you attacked Ichigo this way twenty years ago, you would have succeeded" Zangetsu answered him

"I see, well, I am just happy that we were able to talk some sense into him, it was an honour meeting you Zangetsu" he said before he released his Mangekyo Sharingan

Naruto's blade had not moved an inch, he was waiting for a reason to just cut threw, he was worried because it had already been ten minutes, it should have taken barely five seconds, but finally Itachi's eyes had returned to his normal Sharingan "Well?" Naruto asked him as he resumed putting more pressure on the blade

"Tell him" Itachi said while looking at Ichigo

"I have agreed to send you back…"

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**End Chapter 46  
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And finally, Ichigo has agreed to willingly send Naruto back, but is he serious? or does he have one more trump card saved up like he did twenty years ago?


	47. Chapter 47

Well then, guess what time it is? No, its not tool time...(Home Improvement joke for those who haven't caught on :P and if you still haven't caught on...then well uh...look a bird!) Its time for chapter 47!

but first, my reviews!

Gravenimage - thanks for the review, the Naoto of the FUTURE time line is dead, the Naoto who isn't even born yet of the present time line well she is not born yet :P i hope you like 47 :)

naru-ca-titan - thanks for you review :D many things could happen, Ichigo could use this opportunity to send an attack towards Naruto who would have his guard down, he could try to send him even more into the future, maybe to a time when Ichigo is already dead and so if everyone Naruto knows, and he is stuck there for good, maybe he sends him back so far back in time that he has to fight dinosaurs! Let's Rasengan a T-REX! :D or maybe he will keep his word and actually send him back ;) who knows :D anyway i hope you like 47 ;)

Chi-Neko - Yes, she was going to kill someone, herself :( but luckily, Toshiro talked some sense into her, thanks for the review, and i hope you enjoy 47 :)

blackmoon124 - i love making my readers wonder what will happen next ;) its what makes writhing worth wild, that and telling a good story ;) i thank you for your review and hope you like 47 :)

chickenman00712 - yay, a returning reviewer :D missed you ;) lol anyway i hope you like the newest chapter, and as always, thanks for your review :D

RairyuuBlade - Thanks for the review, you know the old saying, all good things must come to an end :( however, i assure you that there are still a few chapters left, there are still things that must be sorted out in the present, if he ever returns that is, and yes, 271 reviews, never though i would get that many when i first began this story, so thank you everyone, then you very much, i cannot thank you all enough for your continued support, anyway, hope you like 47 :D

RSfan - hey thanks for the review, yes he is mad in the past, however, who would you rather face, the Naruto who has lost Tsunade and a large number of leaf ninja, or the Naruto who had his entire life taken away from him, including his daughter, any chance of continuing his relationship with Sakura, even more of his friends who died after he was sent there, AND on top of that losing Tsunade and all those ninja's, i think i would take my chances with the Naruto from the past if i was Ichigo ;) hope you like 47 :)

Cecixx19 - Thanks for the review, yes he did finally make a deal with Naruto, and as for the story, yes, it is coming to an end soon, i am thinking about a sequel, i just don't have a plot yet...But i will think of one ;) if enough people want me to make a sequel that is :P, anyway hope you like 47 :)

Well that's everyone for this time, again thank you all :) now its time for chapter 47!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 47  
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Yuki ran up to the group that had surrounded Ichigo "Hokage Sama, the last of the night ninja's have either been taken care of or surrendered, all captains have also either been killed or captured sir, our loses were light, but I am sorry to say that Sasuke Sama has fallen in battle" she reported to him

Naruto held back a tear, yet another good man had fallen "If you are really going to send me back, then do it now" Naruto demanded

"I will, but you must give me time, I must gather the chakara needed" he said as he sat down to begin concentrating on his chakara, suddenly out of nowhere, a pink hair ninja appeared in front of him and hit him hard enough to send him flying through a wall, everyone was shocked

"Sakura, what are you doing!" Itachi screamed out

"I want him to suffer, I want him to apologize, I want him to tell me why he took my little girl away from me!" she said, barely able to contain her emotions "Then he can send Naruto back!"

"If you injure him, or even worst, kill him by accident, he won't be able to send him back!" Itachi tried to tell her

"FINE then he can at least tell me why…WHY!" she cried out as Ichigo got up from the rubble, his ribs aching from the pain

"Sakura Chan…" Naruto said sadly "It wasn't his fault…" Naruto continued

Sakura turned around to face him "How could you defend him! He killed our daughter… Our little girl!" she cried at him

"It wasn't his fault…Because I killed Naoto" he said with a broken heart, his own voice cracking with emotion as he said the words, Sakura stared at him blankly, her skin had instantly become pale "It was an accident… She tried to stop us from fighting, she jumped in between me and him during one of my wind rasengan attacks, and I wasn't able to stop in time" he continued on, she had not moved a single muscle, everyone knew that she was in shock, and feared what her reaction was going to be "Sakura Chan.." Naruto said as he tried to get closer to her

Sakura took a few steps back "Stay away from me…" she finally said, those words tore and broke his heart, causing more pain than any kind of weapon could ever cause him physically, she turned her back on him and ran away

Naruto tried to run after her but Itachi stopped him "Hokage Sama, I know how you feel right now, but you must return to your time now, once you do, all this will be fixed, so it's pointless to run after her"

"It's not pointless to me! I made her cry, I have never made her cry, I don't care if none of this ever happens, hey you!" he said pointing at Ichigo

"What is it?" he asked him

"Toshiro told us that I should forget almost everything, however, I may remember a few things right?"

"Mostly, everything you have learned since being here, you will forget, if you actually do remember anything, it will be very vague and seem like a dream" Ichigo answered him

"And I know for a fact that my subconscious is going to remember how I made her cry, and how I did nothing about it, I cannot leave things as they are"

"But Hokage Sama, we may have captured this city for now, and he may be willing to help us for now, but it won't take long for the night army to realize what happened here, if they regroup, and they will, they can retake this city and all of this will have been for nothing" Itachi begged him

"Look, I just need a few moments to talk to her, I want you guys to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't try anything" Naruto asked him

"Do not worry Naruto, I will personally keep an eye on him" a voice came as a small figure walked up to the group, the small white haired man was as calm as ever as his white captains cloak flapped in the wind "Go to her" he simply told Naruto

"Thanks Toshiro, and you, begin gathering your chakara, because once I come back, I want to leave this place as fast as I can" Naruto told Ichigo

"Yeah yeah, I know" he said as he sat back down and let out a large sigh and began gathering his chakara once more

Naruto took off in the direction Sakura had run off in, although the four tails had disappeared to slow down the chakara drain, he was still in the fox state and thus was able to run faster then he normally could

Sakura had run into the small park in the middle of the city, she had found a small lake in the middle of the park, the very lake that Naoto had jumped into only the night before, however she didn't know that, she had sat down near it crying her eyes out "Why did things have to turn out this way, how could Naruto do that do our little girl, she never even had the time enjoy her life, she never got to fall in love…Never got to know the joys of being a parent, I know that once Naruto goes back to his time that none of it would have happened anyway, but still, as her mother I can't help but think about those things" she told herself

Naruto had finally found her, he had cancelled his fox state and the red aura around his body had dissipated, he walked up to her, she seemed to be very upset, she had not even noticed his presence "Sakura Chan…" he simply said

Sakura jumped up to her feet, surprise by his presence "What is he doing here? Shouldn't he be getting ready to leave!" she thought to herself once more, she turned around to face him, she could tell that he was fighting his own emotional breakdown

"I know that nothing I say can bring her back to you, even though that when I go back he will be born again, however, this does not help the YOU of this time, everyone keeps telling me that everything will be alright, this time will cease to exist and that I will just forget about all of it, however, I don't think I could ever forget breaking your heart, making you cry, if I just left without trying to make things right, I know that it would haunt me for the rest of my days, the worst part would be, I would have no idea why, since it would be all in my subconscious…" He said sadly

She stared once more into his blue eyes, she began to remember the first time that she looked into his eyes and felt like she could lose herself in them, she then realize how much Naoto looked like him, even acted like him, she was impulsive, hard headed and did what she wanted, very much like Naruto… And she knew that Naruto did not kill her on purpose, but it still didn't make her feel any better

"Naruto…" she cried out as she ran into his arms, wrapping her own arms around him "She was everything to me, my entire world, my reason for living" she cried in his chest

"I know, and had it been me who lost you and all I had left was our daughter, I would have done the very same thing you did, I love you Sakura, and I loved Naoto"

Sakura once again stared into his eyes, without warning she kissed him, not wanting to part ways with his lips, every moral fibre of her body was screaming for her to stop, it wasn't right, but she didn't care, he was about to leave her as well, and her existence was about to be erased, Naoto was gone and Naruto is all she had left "Naruto…I love you to, I always loved you, and will forever love you" she finally said once their lips parted

"I know you do" he said as he gave her a smile, a smile she had not seen in about twenty years, Naruto's trademark, and stupid carefree grin "Come on, the others are waiting for us" he told her as he grabbed her hand, they began to walk back together, she rested her head on his shoulder

Ichigo had not moved from his spot, he was still gathering the chakara required to send Naruto back "Why am I helping them…" Ichigo thought to himself "**Because, you made a deal with them, and you are an honourable person, that's why**" Zangetsu responded, Ichigo sighed, he didn't like the idea of helping Naruto go back in time, and ruin his invasion plans, but he did make a deal, and he knew if he tried to go back on it now, that Naruto would not hold back on killing him, sure he could put up a fight, but Naruto had beaten him twice now, he wasn't about to try his luck a third time

Konohamaru spotted both Naruto and Sakura walking back, hand in hand "Naruto Nii-san!" he said with a smile "is everything alright?" he asked him

"Yeah Konohamaru, thanks for your concern" Naruto answered him

All of Naruto's friends that had survived the assault on the city had gathered around

"Hey Idiot, once you return, try not to screw up again" Kiba said with a grin

"Sometimes your more trouble than your worth, however, that's what makes you who you are, and that's why we all love and respect you, no matter how troublesome you are" Shikamaru said with a smile

"Naruto… You have grown into a fine young man, Tsunade would be very proud of you, and so am I" Shizune said with a smile of her own

"Naruto Sensei…I know that twenty years ago, when we first formed the team that I wasn't really sure about wanting to be a part of it, but I want to say thank you for picking me, Konohamaru and Yuki became the best friends that I could have ever ask for, you were the best Sensei I could ever wish for, even if you left us prematurely, I wouldn't have wanted anyone else, thank you Sensei" Hanabi said as she bowed in respect

"Pff, Hanabi, trying to be all emotional" Yuki said trying to act though, but she was failing miserably as some tears were beginning to form around her eyes "Naruto Sensei, when I first met you, I guess I was in awe of your power and presence, I wanted to be as strong as you, I wanted you to train me, I may even had had a crush on you…" she said blushing**  
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"May had?" Konohamaru said jokingly remembering how he used to tease her about it, Yuki quickly gave him a very hard elbow to the stomach, causing him to take a few steps back in pain

"Shut up!" She told him in a stern, yet caring tone of voice "What I am trying to say is, you were my hero, and its thanks to you that I trained as hard as I did, even after you left us, my goal was always to reach your level, thank you Sensei, for everything" she said with a smile, the tears finally began to fall as she hugged him tightly

"Naruto Nii-san…" Konohamaru said, still holding onto his stomach "I can still remember the day we met, you had just graduated from the academy, I was still a little kid, although I was the third Hokage's grandson, I did not have many friends, everyone was always afraid to approach me, fear of hurting me or insulting me, and I was a spoiled little brat to top it all off, that day I insulted you and expected you to just be like everyone else, but you actually hit me, actually hit a kid, who also happened to be the third Hokage's grandson, I was shocked"

"To be honest, I had no idea you were his grandson…" Naruto said

"But that's not the point; you were the first person to stand up to me, I knew from that point on that I wanted to be like you, and since that day, we had a lot of fun together didn't we" he said with a smile "you always played with me, taught me cool ninja jutsu's"

"I wouldn't call Sexyno Jutsu cool" Sakura said in an annoyed tone of voice

"I agree with you Sakura!" Yuki said standing next to Sakura

But Konohamaru ignored them "you became the big brother I never had, you looked out for me, trained me, when I was chosen to be on your team, I almost cried of happiness, Naruto Nii-san, thank you for everything you did for me" he said with a grin

Itachi stood in front of him next "Although my time with you was very short, you took care of my little brother, even after he abandoned you all and betrayed Konoha to pursuit me, you didn't give up on him, you kept on trying until you finally dragged him back and talked some sense into him"

"To be fair, Sakura worked just as hard as I did, and she is the one who actually defeated him and brought him back" Naruto pointed out

"Only after you had weakened him during your fight with him" Sakura added

"Then, when I came to you, putting my life in your hands after I requested permission to defend my home, even though you didn't know the truth about why I left Konoha, you trusted me, and allowed me to fight by your side, you have my respect, and I will forever fight to protect you Hokage Sama" Itachi said as he got down on one knee and bowed his head

Finally, it was Sakura's turn "I have known you ever since we were kids… although I paid little attention to you during our academy days, you were always looking out for me, even when I wouldn't give you the time of day, once we were all put on team seven, I still gave you little respect, yet you continued to protect me, no matter how mean or rude I was to you, you saved my life countless times, most of the time at the risk of your own life, yet you did it without ever giving it a second thought, after many years of stubbornness, you finally won my heart over, those few days of happiness we spent together before you were sent here, were the best days of my life, Naruto, I want to thank you for fighting for me, for never giving up on me, and although she is gone now, thank you for giving me Naoto" she said as she began to cry and held Naruto tightly

Naruto was speechless, he wasn't expecting such a spectacle, he was touched "Guys…I don't know what to say, I love you all, even that idiot Kiba" he said with a grin, one that Kiba returned "Many people died to give me this second chance, I won't let you down, I am going to return home and make everything right, I thank you all for being my friends, and supporting me" he said to all of them

"How touching, now are you ready to go now? Or should I get a book to read?" Ichigo said, obviously annoyed, both because he knew this would mean the end of the night occupation of the fire country, and because he wasn't a very patient man

Naruto walked up to him "So what do I do?"

"Just stand there and don't move" Ichigo answered him

"I warn you, if you do anything stupid to him, I will cause you so much pain, you will beg me to kill you, but I won't kill you, I will continue until you die a very slow, very painful death" Sakura said giving him an angry glare "That I promise you!"

Ichigo knew she was being serious "I made a deal, and I won't go back, so relax" he told her "are you ready? " he said asking Naruto

"Yeah, send me home"

Ichigo released a large amount of chakara, the blast was heading straight for Naruto, all he could see was a white light, then blackness invaded his vision

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**End Chapter 47  
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Well Ichigo has finally...Sent him back? who knows, chapter 48 will reveal


	48. Chapter 48

Well Chapter 48 is here now, and in case your all wondering, is it the last chapter? the answer is...read to find out :P

anyway here are my reviewers

chickenman00712 - thanks for the review, lol about the comment about me comment about your comment :P jk ;) hope you like 48

Chi-Neko - thanks for the review, well this chapter ends on not so much a cliff hanger i guess :P hope you like chapter 48 :)

Gravenimage - thanks for the review, hope you like 48

dragonshaun9 - thanks for the review and lol, maybe this is the conclusion? maybe? i don't know :D hope you enjoy 48

Bombat1994 - unfortunately, you are correct, this story IS nearing its end :( thanks for the review and hope you like 48

RSfan - Well the fluff is back :D yay for NaruxSaku Fluff! thanks for the review, and hope you like 48

LilSmartGirl - thanks for the review, hope you like 48 :)

Soulblazer87 - thanks for the review, and yeah, i believe i did a good job as the crossover, at least i hope i did :P, and yeah, i apologize for the typos, i do try to catch them all :( but i hope you like 48

RairyuuBlade - thanks for the review, and what do you mean by if you may assist me? as for the contract thing, go right ahead, its not like i am the first to use that :P however i don't think anyone has used it in the same way i did, but then again, i have yet to read every Naruto fanfic on here ;) hope you like 48

6tailedninja - thanks for the review, and thanks for the compliment, it seems a lot of people have gotten sucked into this story of mine, something i never expected :P and yes, sorry, after i saw your review, i looked up the proper way to type "crutch" so my apologies :P hope you like 48

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 48  
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"We will not allow you to touch our Hokage" Itachi said

"But it's already too late" He said with a grin as they turned around and noticed something was forming around Naruto, Itachi tried to push him out of the way but it only fallowed him, soon a sphere of energy had formed around him, a surge of energy burst out from the sphere as it dissipates around his body

Naruto's body was aching in pain, his wounds were severe and he had lost a lot of blood "Hokage Sama!" he heard a voice calling out to him "Hokage Sama, are you alright?" the voice called out once more, it was a familiar voice, he was still trying to remember what had just happened, he opened his eyes and saw flames all over the place, two red Sharingan eyes were staring right into his own, his chakara had almost been fully depleted, he had returned to his regular form "Hokage Sama!" the man that Naruto recognize as Itachi screamed at him, suddenly Naruto began to remember what had just happened, Ichigo had tried to hit him with some unknown attack, but Itachi must have saved him, he could have sworn the attack had hit him though

"Thanks Itachi, I am alright" Naruto simply answered him

Ichigo could not believe his eyes, that was a direct hit

Naruto slowly got back to his feet, his clothing was burnt, bloodied and ripped up in multiple places, he knew that he had internal injuries, and that he did not have a lot of chakara left, and he could tell that the Kurokage was in a similar state, but he could not give up, he could not surrender, everyone in Konoha was counting on him, the survival of the village, no the entire nation would be decided tonight, he massed up all of his remaining strength and began running towards the Kurokage

Ichigo could barely stand on his own feet, he did not have the strength he needed to lift his blade, he decided to drop it, he lifted his hands to defend himself, Naruto began to strike at him, one of his attacks was able to strike Ichigo on the jaw, Ichigo responded with a hit to his stomach, Naruto kicked him in the ribs as Ichigo tried to strike at his head, but Naruto grabbed his hand and hit him square on the forehead with his other hand, he then let go of Ichigo's hand and kicked him hard enough to the side of the head to send him crashing to the ground

Ichigo felt no energy left "How could this have happened, we had this won! There was no way we could lose, how could one person change the tide of this attack!" Ichigo thought to himself

Naruto walked over to him, Kunai in hand, he stared at Ichigo with hate and resentment "Kurokage of the night country, you came here and killed many of our ninja's, including our beloved fifth Hokage, Tsunade, you then invade our homes and try to take away our freedom, I cannot forget the crimes you have committed against us" he said as he pointed the Kunai at Ichigo

Ichigo was unable to get up, his body had given up, he was out of chakara, massive internal bleeding, he knew he must have a few broken bones "So just finish me off then, that's what you want to do isn't it?"

Naruto suddenly began to smile, much to Ichigo's surprise "No, that would only make me as bad as you, surrender now, and you and the surviving night ninja will have their life spared"

"Tch, you think you're all powerful because you have won a battle against me?" Ichigo said arrogantly

Naruto's smile only grew wider, and it annoyed the hell out of Ichigo. Itachi, Kakashi, Neji, and Shikamaru stood behind Naruto "No, I am powerful because I have my friends behind me" Naruto fell down to one knee, his body exhausted from the battle, and his wounds were also taking its toll on his body, Itachi quickly caught him and held him up

"We need a medic here!" Itachi screamed out

It didn't take long for Shizune to respond to the call, she ran up to Naruto, but he swatted her away "No, I must ensure that Konoha is safe" he said as he pushed Itachi aside and tried to walk under his own power, only to make it a few steps away before falling and once again being caught by Itachi

"Hokage Sama, you are badly hurt, those wounds are severe, I must heal them right away..." Shizune pleaded with him

"There are hundreds of ninja's out there who need your attention Shizune, treat them first" he commanded

"But..."

"I SAID TREAT THEM FIRST!"

Shizune did not want to obey, but Naruto was not giving her any choice, but without any medical attention, he would die for sure. Someone ran up to Naruto and slapped him hard enough to leave a red mark on his face "IDIOT!" The young girl screamed at him

"...Sakura Chan" Naruto simply answered her

"Itachi, lay him down, I will tend to his wounds, Shizune, you can go, I have him" Sakura said taking control of the situation, Shizune smiled, knowing that Naruto was in good hands, she nodded and made her way to others who needed medical attention

Naruto stared at Sakura; he could tell that she was in an emotional state "Sakura I..."

"Shut up, you are NOT ordering me away, you can punish me latter, but I am not going to lose you!" she said as she began healing his most severe wounds first, her hands had begun to glow in the soothing green glow, Naruto was still staring at her, she was extremely focus on healing him, her green eyes scanning his body, trying to find all the wounds and prioritise which one to heal first

Itachi and Kakashi walked up to Ichigo, he had not really moved much, but they were not going to take any chances, Konohamaru and Yuki ran up to them "Kakashi, Itachi, They are on the run!" Konohamaru said happily

"Yeah! Half of their captains have been defeated, when they saw their Kurokage go down, some of them began to run away or surrender" Yuki added with a grin, but both of them stopped smiling when they saw Naruto laying down on the ground "Naruto Sensei! Is he going to be alright?" Yuki asked concerned

"He is the strongest, most stubborn ninja to ever bare the leaf headband, and he is being treated by the best medical ninja in all of Konoha, He will be fine" Kakashi told them with a smile, or at least, what they guessed was a smile from under his mask

"Yeah, Naruto Nii-san is too awesome to die" Konohamaru said as his smile returned

Although Ichigo had no energy to do anything other than lay there, he was still conscious "How could he defeat me, he claims it's because of his friends? And how did my jutsu fail? I know I did it right" his head was facing a pole, on the top of that pole, the Konoha Leaf flag flapped proudly in the wind "Heh we had them outnumbered, yet they fought until the very end and won, how pathetic" were the thoughts going through his head

A Few hours had passed, the Konoha Ninja's had rounded up the night ninja that had surrendered and even tended to the wounded ones, the sand reinforcements had arrived and captured some night of their own that were fleeing, Gaara was amazed at the amount of damage the village had taken, over half of it had been destroyed, yet he was more amazed at how Konoha had survived and won, he had ordered his men to begin helping to heal and search for survivors in the rubbles

Naruto was laying in one of the beds in the hospital, it had taken some damage but was still relatively in good condition, Sakura has patched him up as best she could, his life was no longer in danger, and his body would be able to take care of the rest

The sun had begun to rise on the village of Konoha, the Leaf flag still proudly flapping in the wind, many had though that it would be a night flag flapping by now, but Konoha had survived. Naruto had woken up, he tried to get up, but pain shot throughout his body, Sakura quickly pushed him back down "Don't get up, your body is still healing" she told him

Naruto looked at her, she was a mess, it looked like she had not slept at all "Sakura Chan, did you stay by my side all night?" he asked her

She simply gave him a smile "Of course you idiot" she said as she kneeled down and kissed his cheek and rested her head on his chest "I don't know what I would have done had something happened to you" she told him

Naruto gently rubbed her head with his hand, caressing her hair as his fingers ran through them "You probably would have gone on with your life, met some hot guy who would love you very much, get married and have kids" he said with a smile

Sakura punched his ribs, causing his some pain "Sorry!" she said quickly as she had forgotten about his injuries, he just smiled back at her, he was unable to be upset with her "And no you idiot, you stole my heart, without you, I wouldn't have a reason to live, there isn't any other man out there that could make me as happy as you, and I wouldn't want any other man to even try" she said with a warm smile and a slight blush

"What happened to the night ninja's?" Naruto asked her

"The ones we captured have all been rounded up and been placed in the jail cell's, although we do not have enough cells for them all, so the sand is helping us guard them"

"What about their Kurokage?"

"He is in one of the rooms here, he received critical care, he was hurt just as bad as you, Gaara and Itachi as guarding him themselves, along with a squad of ANBU"

"What are we going to do with them?" Naruto asked, not particularly directing the question at Sakura

"You will figure something out, after all, you are our leader" she said with a smile

"Some leader I am, look at our village, over half of it has been destroyed, many of our people killed" Naruto said sadly

"Considering no one expected us to actually win this battle without the help of the sand, I think you did great, none of the civilians were hurt thanks to the early evacuation order you gave, and the buildings can always be rebuilt" she told him with a smile, her eyes slowly began to shut as she was losing her battle against exhaustion, her head was still on Naruto's chest as she fell asleep, feeling the warmth of his body, she knew that she was safe with him

Naruto continued to run his fingers through her silky smooth hair, although they were a mess since she had not had the time to fix her hair up, his fingers could still easily run threw them and encounter no knots "Sakura Chan, thank you for being by my side, I love you" he told her

"I love you too" Sakura said in a very low voice, as if her subconscious had heard and answered him

Toshiro was being held along with another night ninja, she was a vice captain, she seemed to be a young blonde "Captain, what do you think will happen to us?" she said concern for their future

"I don't know Hiyori, but I don't believe these people will harm us, we will more than likely be judge fairly for our crimes" he answered her in the same calm tone as he always did

"Do you think that they will ever let us go? Or maybe keep us locked up forever? Or will we all be executed?" she asked him worried

"I don't know Hiyori, all we can do is wait" he said as he looked out the window, in his hand he held his night headband, he was remembering how he disobeyed his orders by not capturing Sakura as he was ordered too, and again when he just lost the fight with her on purpose "I don't deserve to wear this headband" he thought to himself, yet he had no regrets about his actions, he was against the war, but he had to fallow orders, he let out a large sigh

Another day went by, Sakura had not left Naruto's side as they both rested up, Naruto got up from bed, his body feeling much better thanks to his healing abilities, Sakura was asleep on a chair next to him, he smiled at her as he got out from bed, her kissed her forehead lightly, making sure not to wake her, he then proceeded to take a shower since he desperately needed one, he walked to the closet, it seemed someone had brought him a fresh pair of clothing, and that his Namikaze cloak had been cleaned and repaired, he smiled as he grabbed them and made his way to the small bathroom, he put his clothing aside as he took off his hospital gown and got into the small shower, he turned the water on, the cold water made him shiver, but it slowly began to warm up, he enjoyed the feeling of the soap and water washing away the filth sweat and blood on his body, suddenly he heard the door open and saw a silhouette walk up to the shower, he prepared for the possibility of a sneak attack by a night survivor, the shower door opens as the unknown threw themselves at him, but to his surprise, and delight, the person wraps her arms around his body and smiles at him "Sakura Chan!" he said happily

"Who said you could get up?" she said teasingly as she held him tightly He smiled at her as he wraps his own arms around her, she still had her clothing on, but didn't seem to care about them getting soaked "How about we take a shower together?" she asked him with an evil grin

"But Sakura Chan, there is barely enough room in here for us both, and generally you need to take your clothing off for a shower" he said with his trademark smile

"Well then, I guess we are going to have to fix that now wont we?" she said, her grin had not changed as she removed her clothing, allow it them to just fall onto the floor of the shower "And as for the lack of space, well I guess we will just have to stay close to each other" she said as she pressed her lips against his

About an hour later they exit the shower holding hands; Naruto was dressed in his fresh set of clothing while Sakura had a towel around her body "What are you going to do about clothing? Yours are soaked" Naruto said with a grin

"Don't worry about that, I will just slip on one of these hospital gowns and make my way to my office, I have a clean set of clothing in my locker" She told him as she kissed his cheek

"You know, maybe we should take another one of those showers tonight" he said giving her a wink

"I look forward to it, but you have a meeting with the council, they are waiting for you to feel better" she told him

"Yeah, I figured, we still need to figure out what we are going to do with these people, what do you think?" he asked her

"I don't know, I mean they attacked us, killed many of our people, including Tsunade Sama..." Sakura said sadly

"Yeah, but I don't think that she would want us to take it out on them, I guess I will go see what the council thinks" he said as they both walked out of the room

"I will go get my new set of clothing and I will wait for you outside the council chambers" she told him, giving him one last kiss before parting ways with him

Naruto made his way to the fire tower; it had escaped undamaged due to being at the far reaches of the village, he entered the council chambers, everyone was there waiting for him, he took his seat and removed his hat, placing it in front of him to show his respect to the elders

The long and difficult process of figuring out the fate of the captured night ninja's began

Sakura was waiting outside of the chambers, hours had passed, but she had expected it to take quite some time, so she didn't mind, she could only wonder what was going on in there, more hours passed, finally the large doors opened, Naruto stepped out letting out a very large sigh, it was one of the longest meetings he had ever been in, however seeing Sakura's radiant beauty waiting for him made it all worth it, she ran up to him and hugged him

"Well?" She asked him

"We have decided to let them go and banish them from ever returning" he told her

"What? I would have though the council would have wanted something more severe" she said confused

"They did, but I convinced them otherwise, these people were only ninja's fallowing orders, they should not have to pay for that"

"What about their leader?" she asked him

"The Kurokage will remain in high security detention for the next twenty years, he is being accused of murdering the 5th Hokage of the leaf, as well as being the cause of this war, he is the only one who we are going to be holding" Naruto responded

"Well, it's better then what he deserves" Sakura said as they both walked out of the fire tower

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Nope, not the end just yet, BUT we are indeed nearing the end, also i kow, this chapter didn't end in a great and awesome cliff hanger, but well, there isn't much cliff hanging left with the end drawing near :(

There has been a pole created to find out how many people wish for me to create a sequel to saving old bonds, you can find it in my profile, please vote, the results will determine whether or not i create one :)


	49. Chapter 49

**- EMERGENCY EDIT-**

**- Somehow, a large chunk of the ending of this chapter was lost when i posted it, i only noticed it when i began to re-read it to check for spelling mistakes, i have fixed it now, i don't know how it happened, i will also make a note to warn you all about it on chapter 50 in case the ones who have read this already will not see this** -

Chapter 49 has arrived in time for sat reading!

Well now for my reviewers

Kyubi Sama - Ah, you posted this review just as i posted chapter 48, so i did not get to respond to this then, so i will now :P **QA. why did you make Ichigo and the captains antagonists of the story** AA. No reason really, i needed a group of people to invade, i love bleach and figured i could do a successful crossover, which i think i did nicely :) but as for the reason, really there was no reason, i just though Ichigo would make a good Kurokage and the shinigami good night ninja being all black and all ;) **QB. Where did you come up with the idea for the story.** AB. I will be 100% honest and say i came up with it AS I WAS WRITING IT, when i first began this story, it was going to be a short story about Naruto and Sakura bringing Sasuke back with some NaruxSaku fluff :P but i began to get a lot of hits and a lot of reviews, then my imagination just went wild, i allowed it to lead me to where we are now **QC. How long does it take you to type up each chapter. **AC. It all depends on how big the chapter is, i can type up a 2000 word chapter in a night "2-3 hours" if i am not distracted by MSN or talking on VENT, give me an extra hour without distractions and i can have a 5000 word chapter "i did one of those, can't remeber what chapter it was" but generally i don't take longer then 2 nights to type up a chapter :) "that's because of distractions :P", anyway i hope that answers your questions, thanks for the review and hope you like 49

6tailedninja - thanks for the review, and lol yes, no more walking on crotches :P yes it is almost over, but hope you like 49 :)

Gravenimage - thanks for the review, yep, he is back :) hope you like 49

blackmoon124 - thanks for the review, YES most defiantly, there will be an epilogue, i already have the perfect way to end the story, you will have to read to find out ;) hope you like 49

Chi-Neko - Thanks for the review, and yes, i had very much missed the two of them being together like this :) and i also look forward to Naruto's reaction to his little surprise ;) hope you like 49

naturokurosaki - thanks for your review, well fanfiction is all about allowing your imagination drive the story, that's what i did anyway ;) but as long as you had some enjoyment in reading the story, i am happy, i hope you enjoy 49

RairyuuBlade - 250+ reviews does not necessarily mean people want a sequel :P although since i mentioned the possibility of one, people have been adding that in there reviews :) anyway as for the beta-tester part, i don't know, i posts my stories so fast, i am afraid that having beta readers slow me down, so i am not sure if i want some, but thanks for your review and hope you like 49

chickenman00712 - Thanks for your review, and a lot of people have been wanting one since i said there might be a possibility, i don't know yet if it will will happen, nor do i have a storyline planned yet, then again, i did not have one planned for this one when i began either :P hope you like 49

naru-ca-titan - thanks for your review, and of course, we all have lives ;) "or at least i would like to hope lol" and that's great about your test scores! good job :) your smarter then me :P lol i hope you enjoy 49 and i also hope you have a great weekend :D

RSfan - NaruxSaku will definitely be in a sequal if i so chose to make one, i just don't know if i will do a time skip to include Naoto or just continue from where i left off yet, but thanks for your review and i hope you enjoy 49

Bombat1994 - no, there will be a prequel to wrap things up, thanks for your review and hope you like 49

xzavx - x3 - Nope, he didn't remember anything, thanks for your constant reviews, hope you like 49 :D

Well that's everyone for this time, as always, now is time for the main event, chapter 49!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 49  
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Naruto was heading towards Konoha's high security detention facilities, he had asked that the captains and the Kurokage be gathered so he could give them the verdict decided, Itachi and Kakashi were escorting him, but someone jumped down from the top of one of the buildings and barred his path, Kakashi and Itachi got in front of Naruto in case it was an attack, but the stood down when they saw who it was

The Ninja had black raven hair and wore all black clothing much like Itachi, on his back was the Uchiha fan symbol, on his forehead was the leaf headband "Sasuke!" Naruto said with a smile Sasuke stood silent "Uh Sasuke is there anything I can do for you?" Naruto asked him

"Tch...Thanks" he simply said as he crossed his arms and looked away "And I am sorry for everything I did to both you and Sakura..."

Naruto smiled at him as he walked up to Sasuke and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder "It's alright Sasuke; we both forgive you, just make us proud as you wear that Leaf headband again, brother" he said as his grin grew wider, Sasuke turned his head to face Naruto again, and had a smirk of his own, he then stepped aside to allow them to pass, Naruto and Kakashi continued on their way while Itachi stayed

"Little brother I am sorry about..." Itachi tried to say, but Sasuke cut him off

"Look, the fifth Hokage Tsunade already told me everything, I know the truth of what actually happened on that night, so you don't need to apologize for anything, now go on, protect the sixth Hokage" he said as he began to walk away "Keep that brother of mine from getting into trouble" he said smirking to himself before jumping away

The surviving night captains, along with their Kurokage Ichigo had been assembled in a high security room inside the prison, there were chakra suppressors in place in order to prevent them from using any of their arts or jutsus, and they did not have access to their weapons, in addition there were both sand and leaf ANBU surrounding the room, the doors suddenly open as Naruto entered the room fallowed by his escort, Naruto took a good look at them, Ichigo was standing proudly in front of his captains, nine of them had survive out of the thirteen, including himself "You were told why we assembled you all here, so I will cut to the chasse, we have come to a decision" Naruto told them "You stand accused of not only invading the land of fire, but the land of the water, as well as the land of waves, you are accused of killing countless Konoha ninja's, including the fith Hokage and even the Mizukage of the water, your actions has also caused the destruction of half the village, do you have anything to say for yourselves?" Naruto asked

Ichigo stood silent, as did the captains

"I take it by your silence that you do not deny any of these charges?" yet again no one spoke up "Then it is by the decision of the Konoha council, as well as my own that these charges apply only to the one who caused this war in the first place, the Kurokage of the night, we acknowledge that everyone else were just fallowing orders, and thus, we have decided that you will all be released and sent home, never to return, however, the Kurokage will be serving a twenty year sentence before he is sent home" Naruto told them all "you eight are free to go" he told the captains as the ANBU opened the door for them "you will be sent back to the port city and returned to your ships in small groups so we can keep you under control, you shall be escorted by our ninja's to make sure you leave, any attempt to attack us again or to try and free your Kurokage will be met with the joint forces of fire and wind, and I can assure you that we will not be as merciful as we are being right now" Naruto added

The Captains had not moved, their loyalty towards Ichigo was still strong, well all captains except for one, Toshiro began to make his way towards the door, Kisuke began to get mad "What the hell Toshiro!" he screamed at him

"What? We are being allowed to leave, would you rather we stay here?" Toshiro answered him

"You would turn your back on your Kurokage!" Kisuke said in rage

But Ichigo spoke up "He is right, our country is going to need you guys, without me to lead them, a new Kurokage will need to be chosen, it could very well be one of you, and I want you all to return home and take care of the night country for me, now go" Ichigo ordered his captains

"But my lord... We can't just abandon you" Rukia the seventh division female captain pleaded

"Please don't make me make it my final order..." he told them

The captains reluctantly began leaving the room, being escorted by ANBU as Ichigo was chained up and lead back into the high security detention area of the prison, he would not see the light of day for the next twenty years

The rest of the night ninja's had been gathered just outside of the village, they were unarmed, there blades would only be returned to them once they boarded their ships, the ANBU was separating them into small groups and getting ready to begin escorting the groups one by one

Toshiro and Hiyori were in the same group, they were not schedule to leave until latter today, Toshiro was staring at the clouds as they floated in the air "Captain, you look unhappy, aren't you glad that we are allowed to go home?" Hiyori asked him

"Home... I have nothing waiting for me there; Ichigo was the only real family I had"

Hiyori knew about the tragic death of both his parents and how he was an only child and that he had no other family left, Hiyori herself had lost her parents in an accident a few years ago, she was the same age as Toshiro and looked up to him in many ways, he had become the youngest captain in night history, and it wasn't because that he and Ichigo were best friends, he earned that title, and she wanted to be like him, she had worked her way up to be tenth division vice captain, and was proud of being his second in command

Toshiro felt someone standing behind him, he turned around and was face to face with Sakura "Haruno Sakura?" he said surprised

"I was told that you were here, well I didn't remember your name, but you were easy to find, thanks to your age and white hair" she said with a smile, Hiyori had noticed her and was very unhappy with her presence

"My name is Hitsugaya, Hitsugaya Toshiro" he answered her

"Well then Hitsugaya Toshiro, it's nice to actually meet you, rather than fight you" she said with a smile

"I don't want to seem rude or anything but, what do you want?" he asked her

"I wanted to thank you personally for what you did for me" she told him

"What?" Hiyori asked wanting to know why she needed to thank him

"I know that you could have won your fight against me, you could have captured me and brought me to your Kurokage, had you done that, Naruto would have more than likely stood down, giving you the win, so thank you"

"Don't thank me... I betrayed my country and best friend, now he is paying for my failure" Toshiro said with a sigh "And now, I am being sent home, sent home to nothing, I doubt that I will even remain a captain"

"What? Why would you be stripped of your rank Captain?" Hiyori asked him

"Because, some captains know of my treason, and to add to that dishonour, I was the first to walk out on him when we were allowed to leave, I am not worthy of wearing this headband" he said as he held it in his hand, refusing to put it back on

Sakura kind of felt bad for him "So, you have nothing to return to?" she asked him, Toshiro just remained silent "Look, I know you will probably just refuse this but, what would you say if I told you that I could speak to Naruto about allowing you to stay here, perhaps start a new life for yourself here?" She asked him, obviously catching his attention

"What?" he asked her

"Well, you said that you have nothing to return to, and that you will more than likely lose your position"

"I...Don't know, I guess I would have to think about that"

"Captain, you can't seriously be thinking about leaving the night country.." Hiyori asked him

"I don't know, after all, I don't have anything to return to, no one is waiting for me at home, most of the captains probably hate me, my rank will be stripped, I will probably become an outcast due to my actions here, also I will probably be blamed for losing this war and ultimately the one responsible for Ichigo being sent to prison"

Hiyori was breaking up inside, the person who she looked up to the most was about to leave her life "Well...If you're staying, I am staying to!" she shouted out

Both Sakura and Toshiro were surprised "What? But why? You are slated to be a captain one day, you would more then likely be chosen to replace me, you worked hard for that honour"

"I don't care about that! I don't have anyone else to go back to either! You are the reason why I worked so hard, you were the one I looked up too, without you, my rank means nothing!" she said as tears began forming around her eyes, she turned around and tried to run away, but she was quickly surrounded by ANBU members who thought she was trying to make a run for it, they took out there weapons and surrounded her, her heart was pounding as they began walking towards her

Suddenly Toshiro appeared in front of her as he came to her defence "Touch her, and you will have to deal with me" he simply told them

Sakura ran up to them "Stand down!" she told them, they both bowed their heads at Sakura and put away their weapons

"Yes Ma'am" they said as they returned to their positions

"Calm down Hiyori, I didn't know you felt that way..." Toshiro told her, hoping she would calm down

"How could you know, you were always too busy to notice me... Even though I tried my hardest to climb the ranking, not for myself, but to get your attention" she said sadly

"Well...If you truly wish it, I can speak to Naruto about allowing you to stay as well" Sakura told her with a smile

"Really?"

"But think about it, you would be turning your back on your country, this isn't a decision you should make lightly, once you leave the night country to join their enemies, you will be branded a traitor" Toshiro warned her

"If you leave, then I will fallow!" She said, her resolve seemed strong

"Very well then, both of you think about it, I will talk to Naruto about it" Sakura told them before leaving them

Naruto was just wrapping up a meeting with some of the head carpenters about rebuilding the village, he had another meeting about filling in some of the ranks of the fallen ninja's , as well as one with Gaara about having some sand ninja stay behind and help out, Naruto was afraid that one of the other major countries would use this opportunity to attack them, showing that the sand and leaf stand together as proud allies might make the others think twice about taking advantage of the situation

Sakura walked into his office, he smiled "Well, you're a lot cuter then the guys I have been spending most of my day with" he said teasingly as he got up to embrace and kiss her

"I don't know if that's a compliment, or an insult, since your comparing me to a bunch of old guys" she said teasingly "But I know your busy with restoring the village and all, so I won't waste any time, I have come to request that two of the night ninja's be allowed to stay here"

"What?" Naruto asked stunned

"One of them is a young captain, and the other is young vice captain"

"Wait a second; let's start from the beginning, what's going on?" Naruto asked confused

"Alright, there are two night ninja's that are thinking about leaving the night and to stay here"

"Who and why?"

"One of them is a captain, his name is Hitsugaya Toshiro, he seems to be their youngest captain, during the assault, he was ordered to find and capture me alive so they could use me against you"

"Yes, I remember, that's why we had to keep you away from the front line"

"Well he did end up finding me anyway, and fought me"

"What?! You never told me that..." Naruto said concerned

"Because, he didn't want to go through with it, he fought me yet barely tried, in the end I was able to defeat him, even though he is much stronger then I am"

"Why would he do that?" Naruto asked slightly confused, and also relieved that nothing had happened to her

"Because, he was against this invasion, he was also against using me to get to you, however he did not want to betray his country so he pretended to fight me and lose, however he said some captains had seen the battle and knew he had did it on purpose, so now he is going to be seen as a traitor, he will also be blamed for losing this war and the loss of their Kurokage, also he was the first one to walk away when you allowed them to leave"

"Oh I remember him, yeah, he did seem quite young for a captain" He said as he thought back to the morning

"Also, he said he has no family, no reason to go back home"

"I see, well I guess we could allow him to stay, but he would be under supervision for a while"

"Yeah, I figured as much"

"what about the other one?"

"For her, it's actually simple, she has a crush on Toshiro and wants to stay with him" she said with a slight grin "She also says she has no family and no one waiting for her at home"

Naruto was slightly in shock "A crush?! She wants to leave her country for a crush?"

Sakura let out a slight giggle "Yeah, but I don't think he knows yet, boys his age don't pay much attention to that sort of thing, also, for all I know, he could be as dense as you" she said with a wink

"What? What do you mean by that?!" Naruto said in an annoyed tone

"Oh come on Naruto, you are clueless when it comes to girl!" She said teasingly

"Well I have you don't I?" he said with a smile

"What I am trying to say is, you are clueless about the girls around you who have crushes on you"

"No one has a crush on me" Naruto answered back Sakura began to laugh almost historically causing Naruto to frown "What is SOOO funny?" Naruto asked

"Naruto, you are so cute when you are clueless" she said once again in a teasing tone "Let's start with the oldest crush, Hinata" she said with a wink

"Hinata?!" Naruto said surprised

"She had a crush on you since she laid eyes on you, however she was too shy to ever tell you, and didn't you find it odd how she kept on blushing every time you got near her? Also all those times she fainted in your presence?"

"I just thought she was warm...Or sick"

"Of course you did, you are such a clueless idiot, yet I love you none the less" she said grinning

"Yeah well, alright, I bet Hinata was the only one"

"A bet you would lose, Remember that girl who you thought was talking about training? She was talking about something else...Something that happens in bed" She said grinningly

"WHAT!?" Naruto said in shock, was he really that dense?!

"And more recently is Yuki"

"Oh come on, that can't be, I am her Sensei"

"And yet she has a crush on you, it's easy to see really, why do you think she is hostile towards me? during our last training session, she did not fight me because she wanted to train, she wanted to DEFEAT me to prove that she is a better match for you then I am"

"Well, it's not like I would ever leave you" Naruto told her

"Of course not, BUT you have no idea how the mind of a teenage girl works do you? What am I saying, you have no idea how the mind of any female, regardless of age works" she said with a giggle that annoyed Naruto

"Yeah yeah, so I am a clueless idiot who only has eyes for the most beautiful girl he has ever set eyes on" he said with a grin as he held her

"And that's why I put up with your stupidity" she said teasingly as she kissed him "But back to the subject at hand, what do you think?"

"Well, if they really want to defect and stay here and that you believe their intentions are not to spy on us, then I would agree"

"They are not here to spy; he is one of the reasons why there isn't a night flag out there"

"Very well, I give my permission for them to stay here"

Sakura hugged him tightly and kissed him once more "Thank you Naruto"

A knock came to his door "Come in" Naruto answered, an ANBU ninja entered and bowed before speaking

"Hokage Sama, Gaara is here to see you my lord"

"Ah yes, my meeting to talk about keeping some of the sand ninja's for a while, tell him I will be right with him"

"Yes my lord" he said as he shut the door

"The work of a Hokage is never done" he said with a faint smile

"Well, you are doing a great job, I am proud of you" she told him "Well I better get out of your way; I am going to tell Toshiro about your decision"

"Hey, you are never in my way" He said before giving her a parting kiss, she blushed at him before leaving the room

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**End Chapter 49  
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Chapter 49 comes to an end, i believe now is time to announce that Chapter 50 will be the final chapter, and as i stated in the reviews, there WILL be an epilogue as the end of 50 to wrap things up


	50. Chapter 50 Epilogue

**WARNING, TO ALL READERS WHO READ CHAPTER 49 BEFORE THE MAJOR EDIT AND HAVE NOT RE-READ IT, THERE WAS A MAJOR MISTAKE WHERE LIKE HALF THE CHAPTER WAS MISSING, I ONLY REALIZED IT ONCE I HAD RE-READ THE CHAPTER MYSELF, IF YOU READ THE CHAPTER BEFORE THE EMERGENCY EDIT AND HAVE NOT RE-READ IT, PLEASE RE-READ THE CHAPTER AS A LARGE CHUNK OF INFORMATION WAS MISSING, I APOLOGIZE FOR THE MIX UP**

Well, i know i kept you guys waiting, but i have been working on this all week long, the result is the largest, biggest ever chapter that i have EVER done, it had 8120 words, i tried to tie up all the loose ends, there are a few time skips as well

Well i shall respond to my reviews now :)

Gravenimage - Thanks for the review, after seeing how the poll turned out, i have decided that there will be a sequel, however i don't know what the storyline will be yet, i will take a small break to think about the direction i want to take the story in :)

BigtotheBoss - thanks for the review, yes, it is sad that this is the end of saving old bonds, but i am going out with a bang, this chapter is a HUGE chapter, so i hope you enjoy the grand finally

Itazuk - Yeah, i liked merging the two, it was fun :) Thanks for your review

Chi-Neko - lol thanks for the review, and alright, i won't answer that ;)

naru-ca-titan - Thanks a lot for your review, you are one of the few who has supported me from the beginning :) so i thank you very much, yes i know how you feel, i loved typing this story, i really did, so when i was typing this last chapter, i felt like it had to be great, it had to be grand, like the grand finally of fireworks, and so it turned out to take me the entire week AND being over 8000 words :) i hope you enjoy it, and i hope you read the sequel, that will come out as soon as i figure out what it its going to be :P

6tailedninja - Thanks for the review, i think i already explained this, there was no reason, i needed someone to attack, and they were it :P although, perhaps i can use that as a sub plot for the next story :)

Bombat1994 - thanks for the review, by pairing, did you mean, why did i take Sakura off the list of chars in the story description and replace her with Toshiro? if that's what you mean then i did not take her off, at least not by choice, when i first began the story, the option for crossover did not exist, the wonderful people of fanfiction created the new option in one of there updates, so i changed my story from a Naruto to a Naruto/Bleach crossover, it took away my second Naruto char, that being Sakura, and wanted me to put in a bleach char, and i chose Toshiro, in the description of the story, it still says NaruxSaku :) anyway i hope that answers your question

Harteramo - Thank you very much for the review :) hope you like the last chapter in this story

RairyuuBlade - thanks for the review, and as i said already, yes i have decided :) there will be a sequel

lilal6 - thanks for the review, and the final chapter is up, its my biggest yet, hope you like :)

Lazy Drifter - thanks for the review

magicward101 - thanks for the review, i noticed this was done on chapter 7, so i am very curious to know if you continued to read and if you still think the same way, because i do know that i took the story in a totally different direction then i first intended :P

Well that's everyone, i have had a great time writing this story, i really allowed my imagination to just run wild, and i am happy to see that you all supported me along the way, well as sad as this is for me to say, Chapter 50 is the final chapter, it is also the epilogue chapter that ties up most of the loose ends, well then, i have kept you all waiting long enough, here is Chapter 50! The Grand finale!

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**Saving old bonds**

**Chapter 50**

**The Epilogue**

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Toshiro was still thinking about what Sakura had offered them, the more he thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him, but would these people really accept him? He was going to be an traitor at home, but he would be an outcast here, but he agreed more with the views of peace and friendship Konoha stood for, then the views of war and invading his own country stood for

One of the ANBU ninja's walked up to Toshiro's group "Alright, it's time for this group to begin heading towards the port town"

"Wait, I need to speak with Haruno Sakura!" Toshiro told one of the ANBU ninja's

"Are you trying to tell me that lady Sakura has any business with an enemy captain? Move along"

"But it's true! Just go get her" Toshiro once again asked him

"Look, Lady Haruno is the executive head doctor of the hospital, she is very busy, and she doesn't have the time to come down here just because you want her to, so start marching before I make you" the ANBU said as he took out a kunai to show that he was serious

"Don't you talk like that to him!" Hiyori screamed at the ANBU

"Don't push me little girl" the ANBU responded

"What's going on here?" A voice came from behind them

The ANBU bowed his head at her before he replied "Lady Haruno! I am sorry ma'am, but these two are being difficult, don't worry, I will deal with them"

"You shall do no such thing" She told him sternly

"But ma'am, this group is schedule to move out now, we must keep the groups moving or else we will fall behind"

"I know that, but before this group moves out, I have to speak with these two"

The ANBU was confused, what would she need to talk to them about? But he nodded at her, knowing that it wouldn't be a good idea to make a fuss about it, after all, her temper was beginning to get its own legendary reputation

"Toshiro, Hiyori, have you made a decision?" Sakura asked them

Hiyori wanted to hear Toshiro's answer first; she didn't care where she ended up, as long as it was with Toshiro "I have decided, although I love my country, I do not wish to go back, to be viewed as an outcast, as a traitor, I could not bear to live with such a shame, if I could begin a new life here, then I would be honoured to lend Konoha my power" Toshiro finally said

"And if he is staying, then so am I" Hiyori simply said while standing next to Toshiro

The ANBU ninja was stunned by what he was hearing "What is going on? They can't seriously think that they would be allowed to stay I mean..." he thought to himself

"I have spoken with the Hokage, and he has agreed to allow both of you to stay"

"Really? That's great, right captain?" Hiyori said with a smile

"Don't call me by that title anymore, since as of today I have renounced all ties with the night, including my rank, I put myself in your hands" he said bowing to Sakura out of respect, Hiyori fallowed the example

"Lady Haruno, you can't possibly be serious about this" the ANBU said voicing his concerns

"You may continue to lead the group of night ninjas, these two shall remain here" She told him, he wanted to protest, but knew it was pointless

"Yes ma'am" he simply said as he bowed his head and rounded up the rest of the night ninja's to begin their long walk towards the port city

"Now then, we need to find you two a place to stay, I am sure Naruto will want to personally talk to you both when he has the time" She said motioning them to fallow her

Hours had passed, Naruto was tired, it had been a long day of constant meetings and planning for the future of Konoha, he was still in his office, reading reports and filing paperwork, a knock came to his door "come in" he simply said not taking his eyes off of the scroll he was reading

"Still working hard?" Sakura's sweet voice was enough to get him to stop reading the scroll, he looked up to see his beautiful Sakura, and two others behind her, one he recognize as one of the captains he had seen this morning, the other girl must have been the second night ninja who was defecting, Naruto got up from his desk to greet them

"These must be our new friends" He said as he walked up to them

"Hokage Sama, it is an honour to finally meet you" Toshiro said as he bowed his head to show his respect, Hiyori did the same "My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro, former tenth division captain of the night, and this is Sarugaki Hiyori, former vice captain of the tenth division of the night"

Naruto smiled at them both, Hiyori was actually surprised, she had pictured someone much older, much scarier as the Hokage, during the battle she did not get the chance to see him, so she had made up her own mental image of how he looked in her mind, she was nowhere near close as she had pictured an older man, but he was young, and kind of cute, although she still thought Toshiro was cuter "I never expected that anyone from the night would want to defect, but Sakura seems to trust you, and I trust in her judgment, so let me be the first to welcome you to Konoha" he said as he shaked both their hands

There was something about his smile that made Hiyori begin to like him, she did not have any regrets about leaving her country, she had Toshiro by her side and her new leader seemed to be someone she could trust

"Now then, what will you two do as citizens of Konoha?" Naruto asked them both

"I know that only a few days ago, we were enemies, but I would very much like to fight as a ninja of Konoha" Toshiro told him

"I Figured as much, you have to understand though that I will be forced to keep a close eye on the both of you until you earn our trust right?"

"Yes, I had assumed it would be the case"

"As for your rank, although I am sure that you are of the Junin rank, I will start you both at Chunin"

"Understood, truth be told, I was expecting us to start as Genins"

"I thought about it, but we need every able body to take missions and help rebuild our village, I can't have two capable ninja's chasing after that demon cat, or pulling weeds"

"Demon cat?" Hiyori asked confused causing Sakura to grin, remembering their own mission to capture that beast

"It's nothing, just the nickname genins have given it"

"Is it really that powerful? Should you be sending genins for such a dangerous job?" Hiyori asked him

Naruto almost began to laugh "Don't worry, if you ever lead a genin team, you will eventually meet it and understand" he said with a grin "But for now, I guess I should give you these" he said as he handed them both the leaf headband, Toshiro picked his up and stared at it, by accepting that headband, he would never be able to turn back, once he puts it on, he would no longer be a night ninja, he would be a leaf ninja

He tied it around his head where his night headband use to be, it was still in his pocket since he had removed it earlier, Hiyori removed her night headband and tied on her new leaf headband

"They look good on you guys" Sakura said with a smile, one that Toshiro returned

"Well, the village is still in ruins, it will take a few months if not the better part of the year to repair, so we don't have a lot of places for you to stay, I have some friends who I am sure wouldn't mind taking you two in, plus they can keep an eye on you for me as well" Naruto told them

"Who is it? Kakashi Sensei?" Sakura asked

"No, Sasuke and Itachi, the Uchiha compound has been relatively undamaged, we began moving people in for now, until we can rebuild the other half of the village" Naruto told her

"Yeah, the Uchiha compound is large and has been abandoned for years; it's about time it's used for something"

"We will live wherever you want us" Toshiro told them

"Very well, I will have my ANBU escort you there, you can take the next few days to rest up and get use to the village, I will come get you when I have some missions for you" He told them with a warm smile

"Understood, and thank you Hokage Sama" Toshiro said bowing his head

"Yes, thank you Hokage Sama" Hiyori said as well

Naruto called for an ANBU, he gave him his orders and the ANBU led Toshiro and Hiyori out of the office, Naruto let out a large sigh, Sakura could tell he was tired, yet he could still keep smiling "Are you done for the day?" Sakura asked him

"Yeah, I could use some rest, but my apartment was destroyed" he told her sadly

"You're the Hokage; don't you have some mansion or something?" She said confused

"Yeah, but I ordered that it be used for refugees, it can house 25 homeless villagers, I will sleep in my office if I must, but at least those people have a roof over their heads" Naruto simply told her

Sakura stared at him, his heart truly was pure, always putting others needs ahead of his own, then her warm smile began to turn into an evil grin, somehow Naruto knew she had evil intentions "You know, my little house survived the attack, there is enough room for two people to live there" she said with a wink

"I see, well then, it sounds better then my office, we can even take that shower that you wanted to take" he said as he got up and held her tightly

"What a coincidence, I was JUST thinking about that shower" she said with a grin

She kissed Naruto passionately for a few moments when suddenly they heard a voice coming from his window "Ah, to be young and in love again" the male voice came from behind them

"...Ero Sanin!" Naruto said as he turned around to face his old master "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking up on my Hokage, didn't expect to see this scene though" he said with a large grin, causing both Sakura and Naruto to blush "I also came to say that the last of the night ninjas have been escorted, they have boarded there ships and left our shores, also reports indicate that they have left the land of waves and are currently preparing to withdraw from the land of water"

"That's great news, But tell me, where were you all this time?" Naruto asked him

"I was caught behind enemy lines, a small group of them had attacked a village, I had to save them, that's why I was late returning, please forgive me" he told them

"It's alright, it all worked out in the end" Naruto told him

"Yeah, I knew it would, after all, you are the sixth Hokage of the leaf, and the fourth Hokage's legacy, and most importantly of all, my apprentice… And my god son, so I know that under your leadership, Konoha will flourish like never before" he said proudly "Well, you two look like you were busy, so I will leave you kids alone" he said with a wink as he left

"I really need to start shutting that window and locking it..." Naruto stated

"Well, how about we head to my place then" she said as she pulled him in for a kiss

"Mmm how can I refuse anything you want?" he said with a grin as he picked her up and jumped out the window, she was surprised at first, but wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his chest as she knew she was in good hands, the sound of his heartbeat was almost soothing, she could have fallen asleep in his arms easily, but she had other plans for them tonight "**Hell Yeah!**" Inner Sakura screamed in agreement to Sakura's plans

A week later Naruto was sleeping peacefully when he is woken up by some sound, he slowly sat up and realizes that Sakura was not in bed with him, her spot was still warm, meaning she must not had been gone for long, that's when he heard the noise again, it sounded like someone throwing up, Naruto got up and headed towards the bathroom, Sakura was sitting on the ground looking like she had not slept all night "Sakura Chan, are you alright?" He asked concerned for her

She tried to smile at him, to reassure him that she was alright, but she suddenly began to throw up again into the toilet, Naruto was afraid that she had caught something "Sakura Chan, maybe we should get you to the hospital" he told her

"No, I am fine, it's just a flu, its only normal that I would get sick, I have been pulling double shifts at work, my immune system must be weaken, it should pass once I take some medicine" she told him as she tried to get up, but suddenly the room begins to feel as if it was spinning and she lost her balance, Naruto quickly caught her before she could crash to the ground

"I don't care if you think it's just a flu, I would feel a lot better if we have Shizune check you out, please, for me?" He said with a sad face

"You dare accuse me of using my own sad face to get what I want, when you will use it against me yourself! How hypocritical!" with a fake angry voice, it didn't take her long to begin smiling again "Alright, you win, let's go see Shizune, but she is only going to confirm what I already know" she added

"If she does, then fine, I will cook dinner tonight and make sure you get the rest you need" he said with concern in his voice

"Oh, great. ramen, I can hardly wait" she said teasingly

"I can make more than ramen you know!" He said with a pouting voice

"Aww, did I hurt your feelings?" she once again said in a teasing tone "It's alright, if you want to make me ramen tonight, I will happily eat it" she added kissing his cheek

Naruto held her hand as they walked towards the Hospital, Sakura had to admit that she was feeling light headed, and it seemed to be that way for the past few mornings, it would only last about an hour or so, they walked into the hospital, Ino was sitting at the reception desk

"Hokage Sama, Sakura, what are you guys doing here? Isn't today your day off Sakura?" Ino asked her

"She seems to be sick with something, I want Shizune to check her out" Naruto told her

"It's probably nothing Ino, just the result of neglecting my health due to working overtime here" Sakura added

"Well it's still early so we aren't busy yet and Shizune is free right now, I can have her see you right away" Ino told her with a smile as she lead them to a room where she told Sakura to sit down on the bed while Naruto waited outside

Sakura didn't like being the one sitting on the bed, she was use to sitting on the chair, after all, she was a doctor and she knew that she didn't belong here, she just had a minor flu, but Naruto was being sweet and was concern for her health, so she would play along, Shizune entered the room with Sakura's file "Sakura, seems like you can't leave this place for more than a few hours" Shizune said teasingly to Sakura as she sat down on the chair and opened the file

"Blame Naruto, he is the one who dragged me here, just give me some medicine for the flu and I can go back to bed" she told her

"Sorry, you know as well as I do that I cannot give you medicine without knowing exactly what you have, now then let's do a few tests" Shizune performed the test of a regular check up and wrote down notes "So you say you have been having these symptoms for the past few days?"

"Yeah, they began about three days ago" Sakura answered her

"And they seem to only happen in the morning right?" Shizune continued

"Yes" Sakura simply answered her

"Tell me, have you been feeling tired?"

"Well only slightly, when I get home from my shifts, I normally am able to stay awake, but lately I have been going straight to bed, it's probably the result of my immune system fighting off the flu virus"

"Sakura, it's no virus, you are pregnant" Shizune said with a large smile

"What? No that can't be, you must be mistaken, I would know"

"Sakura, if you want me to take an ultrasound to prove my point, I will, but I can assure you that you are pregnant, after all, what other reason would there be for morning sickness AND the fact that I can hear two heart beats from within you" she said smiling

Sakura was in shock, she knew Shizune wasn't the type to make a mistake, she was the head doctor of the hospital and also learned under Tsunade

"I...I am pregnant?!" Sakura said, only blinking her eyes once

"Yep, I would say about one month, congrats, I am sure Naruto will be so happy"

"Naruto...Is he going to be happy? What if this is to fast...He is so busy with rebuilding the village" Sakura said worried that Naruto would reject the news

Shizune smiled at her "You know that boy better than I do Sakura, and you should know that he will be thrilled about this" she told her with a warm smile, Sakura was still worried, she was happy of course, but was now the right time? And they were both very young, well it's not like she could do anything about it now since she would refuse to even think about the other option, Shizune opened up a cabinet and took out a small bottle and handed it to Sakura "These should help with the morning sickness, now go tell him the good news"

Sakura put the medicine in her pockets and left the small examination room, Naruto was talking with Ino when he saw Sakura walk into the waiting room, he smiled at her, she returned the smile and took his hands into hers, and she looked at him straight in the eyes "Naruto...... There is something you need to know, I was wrong about this being a minor flu"

A chill suddenly went up Naruto's spine, Sakura was being very serious, he began to worry, what if it was bad news? Maybe it was a sickness that they couldn't cure? The thought of losing Sakura began to worry him to no end "What is it Sakura Chan?" he asked her

"Naruto I am....expecting..." she said looking away, worried about his reaction, but Naruto didn't understand, it took every ounce of will power Ino had not to begin screaming and grabbing Sakura to celebrate the news

"Expecting? Expecting what? Your test results?" He asked her

Ino slammed her hand on her forehead "You REALLY are dense aren't you..." she said in a teasing tone "She is..."

But Sakura cut her off "Ino, could you give us some privacy?" Sakura asked her best friend

"Alright, I get it" Ino said giving Sakura a warm smile as she left the room to join Shizune who was peeking from behind the door

"Naruto, what I meant to say is that I am...Pregnant..." She finally ended up saying

Naruto was silent, he was motionless, had she not been holding onto him, she could have sworn he stopped breathing, the only thing he could do for well over a minute was blink "I knew it, he is horrified by the news... This is bad; he is probably going to hate me for ruining his life" she thought to herself

"Me...A father? Did I hear that right? I am going to be a father? A father?" was all that Naruto could think about he finally came back to his senses and noticed the worried look in Sakura's eyes, also he could see the tears forming "I am going to be a father!" he finally said out loud, he picked her up and began twirling her around in the air "I AM GOING TO BE A FATHER!! DID YOU GUYS HEAR THAT? ME A DAD!" He continued on saying cheerfully, that's when all of Sakura's worries suddenly vanished, he was happy with the news, he stopped twirling around since he was starting to get dizzy, and the last thing he wanted was to lose balance and end up throwing his beautiful, pregnant dream girl to the ground, he set her back on her feet and held her tightly as he kissed her passionately, both Ino and Shizune were grinning from ear to ear as they peeked from behind the door

"So you are really not mad at me?" Sakura asked, wanting to make sure

"Are you kidding me? This is the best news that I have EVER heard in my entire life, Sakura, we are going to have a baby!" He said as he kissed her again

"Naruto, I love you so much right now" she said as she kissed him back

Naruto let go of her as he reached in his pocket "I was planning on asking you this latter, but, now feels like the best time" he got down on one knee and from his pocket he handed her a small box "Haruno Sakura, there is no one else that I would rather live the rest of my life with, would you marry me?" he asked her

Sakura was shocked "Did he just propose?!" was all that she could think "**WHAT ARE YOU DOING,OPEN THE BOX AND SAY YES DAMN IT! DON'T LEAVE HIM WAITING! LET'S LAY CLAIM TO OUR MAN**!" Inner Sakura demanded of her, she opened the small box, inside was a small diamond ring, the diamond itself was not large, but it had a tint of pink in it

"I am sorry, this is all that I could afford, I know you deserve one that's much bigger, and I will get you one I promise but..." She cut him off by putting her finger on his lips

"This is perfect, I don't want any other" she said as she slipped it on her finger, it was a perfect fit "And YES! YES of course I want to spend the rest of my life with you" she jumped on him, the force was enough to make him lose his balance as he fall on his back, she laid on top of him and wrapped her arms around him as she kissed him passionately "**YEAH! SORRY GIRLS, HE IS OUR MAN NOW**" Inner Sakura said with a grin "Oh my, I have a wedding to plan..." Sakura suddenly said

"There is no rush" Naruto said with a smile

"are you kidding? I am one month pregnant already, if I wait too long, I won't fit in any dress! No this wedding has to happen now!" Sakura told him

"Now? As in right now?!" Naruto said shocked

"Well obviously not right on the spot! But this weekend, or is it too soon?"

Naruto's smile only grew wider "I don't mind, it could be tonight if you wanted, I would be there" He told her

"Aww, you're so sweet, but that would not allow me enough time to send out the invitations and pick out my dress, no, this weekend will be perfect" She said happily

Naruto stared at her happy face, those emerald eyes of hers were full of life and happiness, she looked like an angel, and this was his heaven

**A few days latter**

Naruto was nervous, he kept playing around with his bowtie "Stop doing that, you keep ruining it" Sasuke told him as he walked up to Naruto to help him redo the tie

Naruto was fully dressed in a black and white tuxedo, the bowtie was orange, Sasuke was dressed in the same manner "I know, it's just, I can't believe this is actually happening, who would have thought that Sakura would actually fall for an idiot like me?" Naruto said as Sasuke finished fixing the bowtie

"I know, I mean, what could she possibly see in you? Your dumb, clumsy, dense, the list goes on" he said teasingly as Naruto gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder "But seriously Naruto, you deserve this, and I am just honoured that you chose me as your best man"

"Hey, you are my best friend and brother, I wouldn't have picked anyone else" he said with a grin

"Naruto Nii-San!" Konohamaru ran in the room, he was also dressed up as he was one of the groomsmen, the other groomsmen were Kakashi, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Itachi "The wedding is about to start" He told him

"Alright, I guess it's time to go and get married" Naruto said nervously

Naruto Sasuke and Konohamaru walked out of the room and began heading towards the main hall when a women threw herself at Naruto's feet, surprising them all, Sasuke's reflex was to pull Naruto back and protect him in case it was an attempt at his life, but the women began to speak "Hokage Sama, I must apologize for everything I have said about you and done to you" she told him

Naruto was confused, although the woman was familiar for some reason, he couldn't quite figure out who she was "Uh..." was all he could muster as he was trying to figure out not only who she was, but why she was apologizing to him

"I beg your pardon my lord, I am Sakura's mother, I use to oppose you being with my daughter, I said things about you to try and convince her to stop seeing you, even when you two were only friends, I even tried to get her assigned to another team, like many people in this village, I could only think about the evil spirit locked away in you, and what could happen to her should it ever break free, I even got in a big fight with Sakura about it before the big attack on our village, she now hates me and I do not blame her for it, she has every right to be mad with me, however, I felt that I had to apologize to you at the very least, you are a good man, and I know you love my daughter very much, with you she will be safe, I am sure of it now, please, take care of my daughter for me" she said as she bowed her head at him

Naruto was more than shocked "Please, get up..." he asked her, she slowly got back to her feet "I hold no grudges against the people for what they did to me when I was a kid, they did not know better, you do not need to apologize to me, I can tell that you love your daughter very much, I don't know what happened between the two of you, maybe the three of us could talk after the wedding" Naruto said with a warm smile

"I would very much like that" she told him

Kakashi came out looking for Naruto "Hey, they are waiting for you, Sakura is about to come out, it would be best that you are at the altar when she does...Unless you want her to come drag you there" Kakashi said with a grin from under his mask

Naruto suddenly began to have horrible thoughts of being beaten to near death by Sakura for making her think he abandoned her at the altar, he began to almost run towards the main hall fallowed by the others, he entered and looked at the altar, relieved to see that he had beaten Sakura

The main hall was full of people, Naruto had wanted a small personal wedding with his friends, but being the Hokage meant that his personal life, wasn't that much personal anymore, it looked like almost half of Konoha had turned up for the event, at the Altar stood Gaara, he would conducting the ceremony, Naruto had made the request since they were good friends, and as a Kage, Gaara had the authority and power to marry people, on the bridals side were Sakura's maiden of honour, Ino and her bridesmaids, Shizune, Hinata, Tenten Yuki and even Hiyori, who had become a close friend of Sakura's quickly during the past few days, Shikamaru, Itachi and Kiba were on the grooms side, the only ones missing were Kakashi and Konohamaru and the best man Sasuke, who were all behind Naruto

Everyone took their places except for Kakashi who waited at the door, Shikamaru whispered in Naruto's ear "About time you got here, it would have been troublesome had Sakura arrived before you" he said with a grin to his friend

"Yeah yeah" Naruto whispered back

Suddenly the music began to play, Naruto's heart began to pound, it was as if it was only now sinking in, he was getting married, he was really getting married to his crush, to the love of his life, to the one he had kept his eyes on since the very first time he saw her, the hall doors open, and there she was, she was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, many of the other men would have agreed with him as some of them could not believe that this was Sakura, sure, she was cute, but she was also scary most of the times, but not right now, she was wearing her wedding dress that was white and pink, it wasn't one of those overly large dresses, it was a dress that fit her perfectly, making most of the men wish they were Naruto right now, she was being escorted by Kakashi, since her father had been killed all those years ago, he would have the honour of giving her away

Naruto watched her as she made her way up the aisle, she was staring at him and smiling **"He looks so HOT in that tuxedo"** Inner Sakura commented, Sakura agreed, she finally reached the end of the aisle as Kakashi let go of her arm and she walked up to the altar beside Naruto and he took his place beside the other groomsmen

Gaara smiled at both of them, a rare sight since the man was serious most of the time, but this was a happy occasion "Everyone, we are gathered here today to join these two in the bonds of marriage, If there are any here today that have any reasons as to why these two should not be joined, then speak up now" He waited a few seconds, and as expected, there were no objections "Then let us begin, do you have your vows ready?" both Sakura and Naruto nodded

Naruto stepped up first and took out a piece of paper "Sakura, from the very first time I had set eyes on you, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, you have always believed in me, although you have given me your fair shares of beatings, it was normally due to something stupid I did and thus deserved them" some of the people laughed at that passage and Sakura had a large smile of her own "You were always by my side, always supporting me, even when we were only team seven, you are my reason for living, and I could not think of any other person who I would want to share the rest of my days with" he said, most of the girls had tears rolling down their faces

Sakura stepped up and began telling her own vows "You know, if someone would have told me 8 years ago that I would be standing here at the altar with you, I would have laughed at them and walked away, you were an idiot and always getting in the way of my love for Sasuke, no matter how much I ignored you, you would always come back" She said with a slight grin, although some people were confused, were these really wedding vows? "But slowly you began to fight your way into my heart, you saved my life over and over, as well as the entire village on multiple occasions, when Sasuke left us, you were the one who was there for me, you vowed to bring him back to me, and you did, however, by that time, I had already begun to fall for you, you had captured my heart, you are STILL an idiot, but your MY idiot" she said with a smile as she turned to face Naruto who was slightly embarrassed as the girls were Awwing at the last comment

"Now that you have given each other's vows, we may proceed, the rings please" Gaara said as Sasuke handed Naruto the rings "Haruno Sakura, do you take Naruto, to love and cherish, through health and sickness, for richer or poorer, from now until death do you part?"

"I do" Sakura answered and Naruto slipped the ring on her finger

"And do you Namikaze Naruto take Sakura to love and cherish, through health and sickness, for richer or poorer, from now until death do you part"

"I do" Naruto answered as well as Sakura slipped his ring on his finger

"Then by the powers invested in me by the council of Kages, I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride" Naruto held Sakura close to him as he kissed her passionately, once their lips parted, Gaara continued "Ladies and gentlemen, I now give you Naruto and Sakura, Namikaze!" everyone cheered as they both walked down the aisle, the people threw flower pedals at them as they passed by, outside waiting for them was a carriage, Sakura was surprised, she had not planned it, Naruto smiled at her showing her that it was his idea and she smiled back at him, many women had gathered behind the newlyweds, they were waiting for the traditional throwing of the bouquet

Yuki was standing next to Konohamaru "Why is there such a fuss over a bouquet of flowers"

"It's just tradition" Konohamaru told her

"I know, but just because they catch it doesn't mean that it is the reason why they will get married" Sakura threw the bouquet in the air, the women were all reaching up for it, however, it went passed them all and landed in Yuki's arms, much to her surprise "What the... I didn't even want to catch it!"

"I guess it must be fate then, you are going to get married within the next year now" Konohamaru said teasingly, to which she stomped on his foot as hard as she could "OWW Damn it, I pity the man that you drag forcefully to the altar to marry you!" He added, Yuki suddenly turned to face him, he could see the rage in her eyes "Oh no...I am so dead..." he said as he began to run away, fearing for his life

Naruto and Sakura stared at them, they held back a chuckle at the two "You know, they would make a cute couple, don't you think Naruto?" she said with a smile as she held his arm

"Yeah, I agree, those two get along really well" he said with a grin as he helped her get into the carriage, he asked the driver to take them to the reception hall, the carriage pulled by horses left everyone behind

A few hours later, everyone had gathered at the reception, everyone had already eaten the meal and were talking among themselves, Naruto and Sakura were standing outside the building, taking in some fresh air, it had been a long day, and it wasn't done yet, they would be dancing there first dance very soon, and they were looking forward to it "Its a beautiful night isn't it Naruto?" She asked him with a smile

"Nothing is as beautiful as you Sakura Chan" He answered back as he gave her a quick kiss

"I love you so much" She told him

"And I love you too" he answered once more, they felt someone behind them

"Hey guys, sorry to barge in like this, but I believe some of us would like to see you two take the first dance" Sasuke told them with a grin

"Alright, I guess it is time" Naruto said smiling as he took Sakura's hand and lead her back inside, the floor had been cleared of the tables and chairs and the lights had been dimmed down, Naruto held Sakura tightly as the music began to play, they had the entire floor to themselves as everyone stared at the happy couple dance slowly together, Sakura rested her head on his shoulder as he held her close to him, the magical night continued as they danced it away, not wanting for it to end, however, just like everything else, it did end

**8 months latter**

Toshiro, Hiyori and Sakura were talking with each other while Naruto was busy supervising the reconstruction efforts, the village was starting to recover from the war, but there were still many parts of the city that needed to be rebuilt, Naruto always felt better knowing that Sakura was not alone while she could enter into labour at any time

"Toshiro, congrats on making ANBU" Sakura told him with a grin as she poured him a cup of coffee

Toshiro was staring at his ANBU mask, he had worked relentlessly for the past 8 months to prove his loyalty to Konoha, and he had won over the respect and trust of Naruto who rewarded him with the rank of ANBU "Thanks" he answered her

"I knew he could do it" Hiyori said with a large smile

"If you keep this up, you may make Captain and beat Itachi as the youngest ANBU captain in history" she added with a grin "You worked hard as well Hiyori, I hear that once the academy classes are over, you will be taking your first group of genin as their Junin sensei" Sakura said as she poured her cup of coffee

"Yeah, it's going to be hard, some of them are the same age as me, but I know many techniques that only myself and Toshiro know about, so I look forward to it"

"I am sure that you will have to gain there trust and respect, I have to say that we didn't think much of Kakashi when we first met him, after all, he had fallen for a booby trap set up by Naruto, oh that reminds me, when you go to meet them, watch out when you open the door..." She said as she took a sip of her coffee

"So when are you due? Your tummy is getting really big" Hiyori said in an exciting tone

"I don't know, it could be any day now" Sakura answered her

"Do you know if it's a girl or a boy yet?" Hiyori responded back

"No, neither I or Naruto wish to know, I would love to have a little boy, while Naruto wants a girl"

They continued to talk, Sakura had begun cleaning up while Hiyori helped her, suddenly Sakura had dropped a glass full of water "Oh no, I think my water just broke..."

"Don't worry, I will clean it for you" Hiyori said as she got a towel to clean up the mess

"No I mean I think MY water just broke..."

"You mean..." Sakura just nodded "TOSHIRO GET IN HERE NOW!"

Toshiro ran in "What happened? Did she hurt herself?" He asked concerned

"Her water just broke"

"Oh, well that's alright, I can help you clean up"

"NO YOU IDIOT! NOT THAT!" Hiyori screamed at him

"Oh god...What do we do?" Toshiro said nervously

"We need to get her to the hospital now!" Hiyori told him

"Someone go find Naruto..." She asked them

"Hiyori, go find Hokage Sama, I will take care of getting her to the hospital"

"alright" Hiyori said as she ran out of the house

Naruto was in his office, his desk was full of blue prints as he talked with some of the master carpenters about the restorations, he heard some noise coming from outside his door "What is going on?" he wondered

"Let me in, this is an emergency!" he heard

"I am sorry, but Hokage Sama is in an important meeting right now, just take a seat, he will see you as soon as he is done" a voice answered

"I don't have time for this... Please forgive me" suddenly a body came flying through the door and crashing in front of Naruto's desk as Hiyori ran in

"What the hell?!" Naruto said as he got up and a squad of ANBU ran in to surround Hiyori

"Hokage Sama, please accept my apologies, but this is an emergency, Lady Sakura is going into labour" Naruto just stood still and blinked "Well? Are you going to come? Or are you going to stand there?" She asked him

"Yes, of course" he said as he waved the ANBU away and ran out of the office fallowed by Hiyori

Naruto ran as fast as his legs could take him, he made it to the hospital in record time, Hinata was at the nurses desk "Ah Naruto Kun, Sakura has already been admitted" She told him

Toshiro came running from the corridor "Hokage Sama, finally, Sakura is demanding that you be by her side" Naruto nodded as he ran towards Sakura's room, Toshiro was clutching at his arm

"What happened to you?" Hiyori asked him

"I feel sorry for him... She almost broke my arm, I can only imagine what she is going to do with him"

Naruto walked into the room and saw Shizune and Ino were with Sakura getting her ready for the delivery "It's about time you arrived!" Sakura told him in an angry voice

Shizune walked over to Naruto and whispered in his ear "Be strong my lord..."

Naruto went to Sakura's side "I am here, everything is going to be alright" he said with a smile

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down until he was almost face to face with her "YOU, YOU DID THIS TO ME, YOU BASTARD! IF I SURVIVE THIS, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Sakura, breath, and push!" Shizune told her

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO!" Sakura screamed at her as she clutched onto Naruto's arm as hard as she could, causing all feeling to his fingers to fade

"We have a head, push harder, you're doing great, almost done! Just a little more push Sakura" Shizune said once more

Sakura screamed as she pushed as hard as she could, finally she could hear the cries of a baby as Ino rushed to wrap a blanket around the newborn and brought it over to Sakura "Congrats, it's a little baby girl"

Sakura looked like she was exhausted, but she smiled as she looked at the infant who was crying in her arms "She is beautiful Naruto, you got your wish, it's a little girl"

She handed her to him as he held her in his arms "She is just as beautiful as her mother" He said with a proud smile "and I am going to protect her, I will be there for her" he said as the newborn was crying

"You are going to be a great father" Sakura said in a tired voice

Hiyori and Toshiro were at the doorway "Can we see her?" Hiyori asked, Naruto smiled and motion for them to come in, Hiyori peeked at the newborn in Naruto's arms, she was still crying "Aww, she is so beautiful, and look, she has your eyes Naruto Sama"

Naruto smiled, Toshiro came in for a closer look, when she saw him, she suddenly stopped crying, she stared at him "Aww, Look at that Toshiro, she likes you" Hiyori said with a grin

"Nah, she was probably just tired of crying" Toshiro responded

Naruto looked back at Sakura, she had fallen asleep "Do you want to hold her?" Naruto asked him

"Me?...I don't know I am afraid that I would drop her..." Toshiro said nervously

"To be honest, Sakura hurt my arm pretty badly, I am still trying to get feeling back to it, and since Sakura is sleeping, it would be great if you could hold her for a few minutes while I try to get feeling back to my arm"

Toshiro looked at the small child and accepted to hold her, as he held her, she reached up to grab his nose and smiled at him

"She really does like you Toshiro!" Hiyori said with a huge grin "So what are you going to call her?" She asked him

"I don't know, we were waiting to know if it was going to be a boy or a girl to decide, but, for some reason, I was thinking if it was a girl that Naoto would be a pretty name, I don't know where I heard that name before"

"Naoto, that's a wonderful name" He heard Sakura say

"I thought you were sleeping" Naruto said as he sat by her

She smiled at him weakly "I was just resting my eyes, Naoto is a beautiful name, I like it" She said once more

"Hi Naoto" Hiyori said with a smile as Naoto grabbed her finger "Aww, she is sooo cute! Toshiro, lets run away with her" she said jokingly

"She seems to really like you guys, how would you like to be her god parents?" Naruto asked them

Both Toshiro and Hiyori were shocked "I thought you guys would have wanted Ino and Sasuke to be her god parents" Hiyori said

"I don't know why, but I feel like Toshiro would be a great choice, I seem to feel like he would care for her as much as we would" Naruto said with a smile

"I have to agree, so do you accept?" Sakura said

"Yes of course, right Toshiro?" Hiyori said happily

Toshiro stared at the small Naoto who was smiling at him while she grabbed a hand full of his white hair "I would be honoured to be her god father" he answered

"That's great" Sakura said with a weak voice

"Sakura, you're tired, you should rest" Naruto said as he kissed her forehead

She didn't argue with him as her eyelids felt like led, she finally gave in to the exhaustion and fell asleep

**20 Years after the war**

The head of the sixth Hokage had been added to the mountain, and on top of that head stood a young ninja, on her forehead she wore proudly the leaf headband, she had black and pink clothing including a black cloak that had pink flames at the bottom, she had ocean blue eyes and pink hair, her name was Namikaze Naoto, Daughter of the greatest Hokage to ever lead Konoha, someone walked up from behind of her, he had a black outfit and also wore proudly the leaf headband, his hair was as white as snow "There you are Naoto, everyone is looking for you, today is your nineteenth birthday"

"Sorry Sensei, but it's just I heard that someone was being released from prison today, I was just trying to get a peek at him, but he was quickly taken to the port city by the ANBU"

"Yeah, he was returned to his homeland, you don't need to worry about him, now come, your parents have been planning this party for the past few days" He said with a smile at the young girl

"Alright Sensei" She said as she smiled back at him, they both walked away from the monument

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**THE END  
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I hope you guys liked the way i ended the story, its been real fun, i will make a chapter 51 to respond to the reviews, but as far as saving old bonds is concerned, the story is completed :)

Sequel to fallow soon


	51. Responces to reviews and Teaser!

Well, it has been one hell of a ride, i have to admit this was really fun, and this story turned out to be much more then i could have ever imagined it would be when i first started

over 50,000 hits, 322 reviews, 164,242 in 50 chapters in about 3 months "**wow, has it only been 3 months? feels like a year :P**", this story is on the favorite list of 82 people and on the alert of 69, somehow this story ended up on two C2, :D "Heaven X Earth" and Boys of the "Cherry Blossom and the Weapons Mistress", i am honored that my story was good enough to appear on them :), some of you have been with me since the beginning and has supported me the entire time, i thank you all, because without your support, this story would have never turned out the way it did, also without your support, there would be no sequel, so as a treat, i am going to post a teaser of the beginning to the first chapter, there was a plot left untouched in saving old bonds, i decided to explore that plot and see what i could do with it ;) anyway, i will respond to my reviewers for chapter 50 :D

Gravenimage - Thanks for the review and the support for a sequel, i hope you enjoy the small teaser :)

kuaispeed - lol thanks for the review, i know what you mean, i don't review on stories unless i really like them :) so thanks a lot for your support :D

RairyuuBlade - its alright :) as long as you liked the story ;) and thanks for your review and support

blackmoon124 - Thanks for the review, and yes, i had fun typing that scene, also i REALLY enjoyed the threats to Naruto's life while Sakura was delivering, i could clearly picture Sakura screaming those things to him :P

dragonshaun9 - Thank you, it is very much appreciated :)

6tailedninja - Thanks for the review, and ideas, the Naoto idea i may keep for a latter date

chickenman00712 - thanks for the review, and your continued support throughout this story :) i hope you enjoy the teaser

Bombat1994 - Thanks for the review, yes, my intentions for the last chapter was to wrap all the loose ends, not begin new plots :P so it was mostly as you say, luvy duvy :P

Chi-Neko - thanks for the review, and yes, i liked the way i ended the story with Naoto 20 years latter, proudly wearing the Namikaze cloak and leaf headband :)

BigPac09 - thanks for the review and compliment, i can only hope that the sequel is as good

naru-ca-titan - Wow, that's like a lot of bad luck!! :( But yay for all the A's!! Yes your very smart ;) also lol for the cherio :P, i hope your arm feels better soon :), also thank you, thank you, thank you for all your support and reviews, i hope you like this small teaser/preview of chapter 1

Heron dragon - x2 - Thanks for the review, i am not as familiar with bleach as i am Naruto, although i read the manga of both, hallowfication, is it not when he brings out his mask? if so, i believe he did in my story...did he not?

Christmas Bells - Thanks for the review, yeah, i do try to fix all my typos, but there are always a few small ones that get by me :( as for Sasuke, or well most chars in my story, although i tried to keep them in character "at least at the beginning" as i could, Sasuke was more of a, well, arrogant jackass who though to highly of himself, at least that's how i viewed him, and that's how i tried to portray him, at least at the beginning :P

anyway that's everyone, oh by the way, here are the pole results (I just closed the pole)

24 votes total

**22 yes 91%**

2 no 8%

Anyway, here is the teaser, i haven't given it a name yet :P

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**The Unnamed Story**

**Chapter 1**

**TEASER!**

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**

200 years ago, before the five great nations were formed, before any of the hidden villages were founded, out in the middle of the ocean, a small fleet of 3 ships bearing the night country flag were sailing in search of new land, and possibly make diplomatic contact with whoever they may find

On one of the ships, a man bearing a white captain coat was checking up on his men on the deck, he was admired by his men, he had blond hair and sky blue eyes, and he always seemed to have some sort of smile on his face, his name was Namikaze Masaki, a young girl bearing a vice captain armband approached him "Captain, we are low on food and water, if we do not reach land soon, I fear the worst for the crew" she told him

"Begin rationing what we have left, and inform the other two captains that I wish to speak with them" Masaki responded

"As you wish sir"

The young night vice captain bowed before she began to send the signal to the other two ships, it wasn't long before the captains had responded and boarded the ship

"Namikaze, this better be good" One of the captains told him irritated

"How are your food and water holding up?" he asked them without losing any time

"We are beginning to run out of both on my ship, I have already begun rationing what little we have left, but it won't last us more than a week" one of the other captains answered

"We are in the same shape" the other finally said irritated

"As am I, that's why I think that we should think about turning back, I have a bad feeling that something horrible is about to happen to us if we continue on like this"

"We have orders from the Kurokage, and we are going to fallow them" one of the captains said in anger

"But you have to admit, we are running dangerously low on supplies, if we don't find any land soon, we will all starve to death" the other captain said wanting to back up Masaki

"We have been going in this direction for the past month; we are bound to hit land sooner or later! We don't have a choice, you said it yourselves that we are low on supplies, we probably wouldn't have enough to return"

"If we pooled all of our resources together, we might have enough to get us all back home" Masaki once again told them

"I am in charge of this expedition, and I say we keep on going, now do you want to challenge my authority?" the older captain asked him putting his hand on his Katana

"No of course not..." Masaki said in a disappointed tone, suddenly his senses began to pick something up, the wind pressure had changed, the humidity has also changed "We have to change course now!" he told them

"What is it?" one of the captains asked him

"There is sudden change in the temperature, as well as the winds, a very large storm is brewing, we have to change course to avoid it" Masaki answered

The captain in charge looked outside, all he could see were clear skies, a warm sun and calm waters "You are just trying to get us to turn back, it won't work Namikaze, the expedition will proceed" he said as he began to walk away to return to his ship

"LISTEN TO ME! Everything might look nice for now, but there is a storm coming! You should know that the Namikaze are born with an affinity to the wind element, and although it seems minor to you, there has been a major shift in the atmosphere"

"WE ARE NOT CHANGING COURSE! IS WHAT UNDERSTOOD TENTH DIVISION CAPTAIN NAMIKAZE MASAKI!" The man screamed at him

"My duty as captain of the tenth division is the safety of my men, I refuse to continue on this course, you can file as many complaints as you wish with the Kurokage"

Suddenly large black clouds began to fill the skies and the winds had begun to pick up

"Where did they come from?" the other captain asked

"It's too late, it's here..." Masaki simply said

The crews of all three ships were scrambling to secure the deck, Masaki was helping them out "Secure the canons, we don't need them to come crashing into the ship and causing damage!" he told his crew as they began to chain down the large weapons, his vice captain came to him

"Sir, can we not just turn around now and avoid the storm?"

"No, the wind is not in our favour, we would never get enough speed to outrun it, our only option now is to go straight towards it"

"ARE YOU MAD?" the other captains both told him "I am not going to take my ship and crew into that!" he said pointing at the storm

"Do as you wish, but get off my ship if you don't plan to help" Masaki said as he turned his back on them

"Do whatever you want, we are out of here!" both captains said as they left the ship as fast as they could

Masaki ordered the helm to turn the ship directly into the storm as the other two ships tried to outrun it "Captain, the deck has been secured, let's get the crew inside" the vice captain shouted out

"Alright, get them inside, I will stay here to steer the ship" Masaki answered

"But sir, it's too dangerous, even for a captain!"

"Just go!" he told her as he refused to leave the wheel

The ship was being hit hard with the storm; its sails were being ripped to shreds, and one of the masses had snapped and fallen into the ocean, but Masaki refused to leave his post, in the distance, he thought he could see something, he was horrified, they were rocks and he was heading straight for them, he tried to turn the wheel as fast as he could, but even he knew that it was hopeless, he ran to the emergency bell and began ringing it, but the winds and the seas were to powerful, no one from inside could hear it, he had to warn his crew, they had to abandon ship, although jumping into the sea wasn't very appealing at the moment, it was better than going down with the ship

Masaki was walking against the win towards the door that would lead him to the lower decks where his crew were safely waiting the end of the storm, it took every ounce of energy he had just to take a single step, he was about to reach the door handle when a piece of the main mass came crashing down on him, sending him flying overboard, he tried desperately to stay above water and close to the ship, he had to somehow get back on board, he had to warn his crew, but the waters were to fierce, he was unable to keep his head above water and slowly his world began to grow dark....

The next morning the storm had passed and the sun had returned, it was a beautiful day, the sky was blue and the birds were chirping, two ninjas were walking along the beach together "Hashirama, I don't know if this is such a good idea, the Uchihas have always been our enemies, and the Hyugas have never been much better" said the younger of the two, he had white hair and was dressed in blue

"Tobirama, the fighting needs to end, I am sure that everyone wants something better, could you imagine if we could unite the people and all the clans of the region and form a great village, a great nation!" the older man said, he had black hair and was dressed in red

"Always the dreamer big brother" the other responded with a slight grin, but it didn't stay for long, they both saw something on the beach, it looked like a body had been brought in by the tide, they quickly ran towards it, once they reached the body, they were amazed to find out that he wasn't dead, he was weak, but alive!

"Hashirama, he has some water in his longs, but I can remove it" he said as he began to concentre, slowly, water began to pour out of the man's mouth and like a miracle, he came back to life

The man opened his eyes and looked at the two men that had just saved his life "Where am I... And who are you?"

The two men smiled at him "I am Senju Hashirama and this is my little brother, Tobirama, we are of the Senju clan, what clan are you from, I have never seen that symbol before" he said pointing at the headband that Masaki wore

"I am Masaki of the Namikaze clan... are there any other survivors? I had a crew of 120 men..." he asked them

"We don't know, we just found you here, we could begin searching the area, but we are on our way to a very important meeting with the clans of this area, come with us, once we are done, we can begin searching"

Masaki didn't like the idea of leaving behind his crew, but he had little choice, he was too weak to search on his own, he nodded and agreed to fallow them

PRESENT DAY

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**END TEASER**

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Yeah, its still a work in progress, but it gives you an idea of what story i might be trying to tell ;) "i am hoping that by now, with my hint of saying i left an open plot in saving old bonds, and this teaser, you should have a good idea of where i am going to go :P"


	52. Final review responces

NEW STORY IS UP!

I am sorry for the long wait, but i have been really busy, also i have been trying to plan out the main plot for the new story

Anyway i will answer the reviews one last time here before i give this story the official complete status and move on to the new story :)

Gravenimage - Thank you very much, i hope that the new story lives up to the expectations that everyone has of it

chickenman00712 - Thank you, i hope you enjoy the new story :)

naru-ca-titan - Actually no, this story will be a dual time story, what i mean by that is as i tell the story of what happened 200 years ago, i will also be telling the story of what Naruto is doing right now in the present day time :) so you get both ;) :D

Chi-Neko - Present day mean present day Naruto time, actually i have often wondered what time Naruto is in, they have modern day stuff such as electricity, movies, tv's computers (that name picking thing from the chunin exam) hell i think i even saw a game console once, yet no cars and stuff :P anyway yeah, present day Naruto time :)

blackmoon124 - Thank you, hope you enjoy the new story

Alright, this closes a chapter on this series, Savind old bonds is officially in completed status as of NOW

Historical bonds is the new sequel (Name is not set in stone, i am not sure if its a good name or not may be subject to change)


	53. Story fixes and more review responces

Hey everyone, nope, this isn't a random new chapter for SoB :P I just wanted to do a few things

first of all, i want to say that i just spend the last two-three weeks re reading this entire story, both to find and fix as many typos as i could, i am sure that i missed some, but i did my best to find as many as i could, so i hope it made it better for any of you that are re-reading it, or those of you who just read it ;)

Second, I had to fix a little bit of the story so it would make more sense with Historical Bonds, biggest example would be i changed the year Ichigo said Naruto's ancestors came to Konoha from 200 years to 60

Thirdly, well since i am doing an update, might as well answer those reviews that were made after my last update :D

xzavx - x3 - Thanks for the reviews and continued support, i know that you have moved onto my new story and i am happy to have you as one of my faithful fans :) I hope that you are enjoying HB as much as you did SoB

ketsuekilover - x2 - Thanks for the reviews, i hope that you enjoyed the story, i noticed that both your reviews were done on very early chapters, so i hope that you read it all and liked it, and perhaps are even reading the sequel :)

Lalaith Quetzalli - Thanks for the review, its always nice to get some constructive criticism, i am also happy that you enjoyed how i portrayed the chars, i tried to stay as true their real personality as i could with my own little twist, and yes, after reading your review, i changed the prologue to epilogue :P i always get those mixed up

Slop Doggy - Thanks for the review, also thanks for continuing to be a regular fan/reviewer in my current story, i may or may not have answered these questions already, but the name i got from Yuki is indeed from Eureka Seven, although her name is taken from their, Yuki's look and personality is not, and yes Hanabi is Hinaya's younger sister

regifire - x2 - Thanks for the review, i noticed that your reviewers were also from the first chapters, so i hope that you read the entire story and enjoyed it :)

Sakura Lisel - Thanks for the review, yes i understand what your saying, but she still felt betrayed, not so much by Naruto, but more by Toshiro and Sakura, Naruto just got caught in the middle, it all worked out in the end thought :)

Alex Kingetsu - Thanks for the review, and thank you very much for the compliment, i really wish that i did own Naruto, i would have so much fun with that series.....ah but i can only dream....and write fanfics :P Also i am happy to see that you have become a regular fan/reviewer of my new story, i hope that you continue to enjoy my stories as my imagination continues to be unleashed

Kurisuten-chan - Thanks for the review, i am happy that you enjoyed the story, i know that my punctuations are not the best, i try to improve myself as time goes by, the more i write, the better my spelling and punctuations gets :)

Well that's everyone that i had not responded too

And Fourth and lastly, i also wanted to bump this story back to the top for a while :P

As always, Thank you everyone for your continued support and i hope that you continue to give it to me as my story "Historical Bonds" continues, and who knows how far i will go :) "Bows in respect of his fans/reviewers"


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